Healthy Communities History

A Brief History of the Healthy Communities Movement

Adapted from: Norris. "The Healthy Communities Movement and the Coalition for Healthier Cities and Communities." Public Health Report. March/April 2000, Vol. 115 and Hancock. "The Evolution, Impact and Significance of the Healthy Cities/Communities Movement. Journal of Public Health Policy. Spring. 1993

Background

"The Healthy City/Communities concept is firmly rooted in an understanding of the historical importance of local governments in establishing the conditions for health, and a firm belief that they can, and must (continue) to play a leading role in health promotion."

Recent History

November 1986        
The First International Conference on Health Promotion resulted in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion to achieve Health for All by 2000.  It outlined the fundamental prerequisites for health as: peace, shelter, education, food, income, a stable ecosystem, sustainable resources, social justice, and equity.  It defined health promotion as "the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health.  Health is seen as a resource for everyday life, not an objective of living. Those concerned with their community's health are urged to advocate and enable change by adapting and implementing local strategies. The heart of the process is the empowerment of communities-their ownership and control of their own endeavors and destinies. There is strong focus on the process of health promotion; thus a healthy community is not necessarily one that has high health status, rather it is one that continually strives to be healthier in all decisions it makes. This equates to public health policy at a local level and emphasizes the role of local

1988
The World Health Organization (WHO) launches a Healthy Cities initiative in 34 European cities.

1993
The U.S. hosts the International Healthy Cities and Communities Conference and was the first meeting of the U.S. Healthy Communities movement.

1994
The first ever "Healthy Communities Summit" was held at the Massachusetts Municipal Association in Boston.

1996
The Healthy Cities and Communities Coalition (CHCC) is officially formed at the Leadership Action Forum in Washington, D.C. Mary Pittman, DrPh, of the Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET) of the American Hospital Association was named Chair.

Tyler Norris from the National Civic League is named Executive Director of the CHCC.

1997
The coalition meets with the Community Care Network (CCN) a collaboration of HRET, VHA, Inc., the Catholic Health Care Association, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

1998
The Coalition works toward developing a Healthy Communities Agenda for the nation with the help of Michael McGinnis, former director of ODPHP and staff of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The CHCC forms a network of state liaisons and a mechanism to share healthy community information across states.

The Surgeon General, David Sacher, MD endorses the national Healthy Community Agenda at a 10 year celebration of the movement.

1999
John Kessler is name as Executive Director of CHCC.  Over 300 American communities participated in a dialogue that culminated in "A Message to America from America's Communities" and the Seven Patterns of a Healthy Community were published.

2000
The ODPHP releases the new Healthy Communities Agenda at its conference "Partnerships for Health in the New Millennium."

2001
The Massachusetts Prevention Centers are renamed to the Regional Centers for Healthy Communities and are funded to support the healthy communities movement across Massachusetts.

2003
There are thousands of communities across the nations which are participating in the healthy communities movement. According to Tyler Norris, a founding father, the movement "seeks local solutions to address the challenges of improving health and quality of life. It has its roots in community, not in a national or organizational agenda. At its core are valuing and employing local resources for positive change.  It is not about getting but about using effectively what we have. It implies sharing tools and pooling resources in new ways. It brings together business, government, nonprofit, healthcare, faith, and citizen leaders to address community health collaboratively."