Team Profile Summary
The Washington, DC team is taking a different, upstream approach to health equity. The team’s vision is to see that “DC is a place where health equity is prioritized in all policies and where we live no longer determines how healthy we are.” However, rather than focusing on treating individuals, the DC team works with the community to develop and implement strategies and policies that focus on fundamental causes and systemic roots of the health issue to promote equitable health in DC. The team’s mission statement is to “[focus] on creating equitable and healthy neighborhoods through connecting long-term planning with everyday concerns.”
The team also proposes goals, which include:
- Building solidarity with the community seeing them as the most valuable resource.
- Creating a collective consciousness around fundamental (education, economic development, poverty, racism) issues through engaging all sectors in the development of policy.
- Ensuring the equitable implementation of policies through accountability.
Team Profile Details
Problem Statement
The 2007 release of “F as in Fat”, a report of the Alliance for America’s Health, identifying District youth as having the highest rates of obesity in the country, provided an important catalyst that prompted Department support for staff efforts to build a broad base of support for addressing the obesity crisis and likely Council funding for same. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity constitute a healthcare burden that directly and/or indirectly affects the majority of residents in the District of Columbia. The incidence of these chronic diseases has grown to epidemic proportions, and the District’s community has been affected at higher rates than the nation as a whole.
- More than 160,000 residents have cardiovascular disease.
- Approximately 35,000 residents have diabetes.
- Over half of the District’s population is overweight with 115,000 of those residents being obese.
Team Objectives
- Build solidarity with community, seeing them as the most valuable resource.
- Create a collective consciousness around fundamental issues (ex: education, economic development, poverty, racism) through engaging all sectors in the development of policy.
- Ensure the equitable implementation of policies through accountability.
Community Partners
- – Metro Washington Public Health Association
- – DC Primary Care Association
- – ONE DC
- – Bread for the City
Healthy Affordable Food for All
