Oakland, CA

East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC)
UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland
Alameda County Public Health
La Clínica de La Raza, Inc.
Regional Asthma Management & Prevention (RAMP), a project of the Public Health Institute
Sutter Health

ABOUT

Healthy Havenscourt seeks to reduce Havenscourt’s asthma health disparities, focusing on upstream policies regarding unhealthy housing conditions and toxic stress. In the current Bay Area housing crisis, many tenants don’t report problems with their home for fear of eviction or rent increases. The collaborative will support a resident-centered healthy housing champion program to advocate for healthy housing policies. The champions will also administer a pediatric ACEs screening and social determinants of health tool to identify residents’ social supports, and connect them to community resources. Partners will leverage their expertise in housing, policy development, community leadership, ACEs, and asthma clinical care to provide a comprehensive approach to reducing Havenscourt’s asthma burden.

Health Equity

The collaborative will promote health equity by advocating for healthy housing policies to reduce exposure to environmental asthma triggers with a focus on low-income residents, residents of color, immigrants, and undocumented residents who are especially vulnerable to the negative health impacts of housing instability. We will ensure community voice is at the center of the advocacy in the hopes that residents realize their potential to impact local policy change and neighborhood change.

BUILD PRINCIPLES

BUILD and its communities apply bold, upstream, integrated, local, and data-driven (BUILD) approaches to improve health in communities that are adversely affected by upstream factors.

Bold

Healthy Havenscourt will pilot a health navigator model, the healthy housing champions program, to move policy and systems change efforts. By taking a broader lens to health equity that focuses on housing conditions and toxic stress, the collaborative is shifting from an organizational-driven approach to a successfully-proven, community-driven collaborative model that engages new partnerships between community development, healthcare, and public health.

Upstream

Asthma health disparities are often compounded by substandard housing conditions, poor air quality, and stressors (e.g. toxic stress). Healthy Havenscourt is advocating for healthy housing policies to strengthen the social and environmental factors that will support Havenscourt residents’ health and well-being. Secondly, administering Children’s Hospital Oakland’s FINDConnect and PEARLS screening, the partners will deepen its understanding of the connection between toxic stress and asthma.

Integrated

This initiative deepens partnership between a community development corporation, public health partners with expertise in asthma and housing policies, and community health center with a strong social justice lens. Through a new partnership with a healthcare institution, healthy housing champions will administer the hospital’s social determinants of health (SDOH) tool in the community, with the goal of better understanding residents SDOH needs and connecting them to the right resources.

Local

Recognizing residents know their neighborhood better than anyone else, the initiative anchors resident leadership through a cohort of Havenscourt healthy housing champions. Partners will support the group’s capacity to design and implement health-related actions and advocate around key policy opportunities. The champions will work with residents to lead advocacy efforts, conduct asthma education, and administer FINDconnect and PEARLS tools to connect residents to resources and targeted care.

Data-Driven

To help frame policy messages, partners will regularly incorporate Havenscourt asthma-related emergency and hospital visits, asthma home visiting program usage, code enforcement complaints, and additional non-clinical indicators identified with the public health department (i.e. displacement). Data collected through Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland’s tools, FINDconnect and PEARLS, will be regularly analyzed and shared with the collaborative to guide planning and strategic development.