Asset-Based Community Development Institute :: Greater Rochester Health Foundation

In 2008, the Greater Rochester Health Foundation launched a program called the Neighborhood Health Status Improvement grants through which it is supporting five community groups as they engage in asset-based, grassroots efforts to improve the health status of residents in their communities. Partnering with the Asset-Based Community Development Institute, the foundation is providing both grants and ABCD technical support to groups who are addressing the health consequences associated with poverty by focusing on the broad social and economic contexts of the communities in which they are working.

The Greater Rochester Health Foundation works to improve the health status of the residents of the Greater Rochester community, including people whose unique healthcare needs have not been met because of race, ethnicity, or income. With the Neighborhood Health Status Improvement grants, the foundation has embraced the view that in order to improve health status, communities must work together to improve the economic and environmental conditions that describe their domain, and that an asset-based approach to engaging residents offers the most promising results in the long run. The grants program is expected to last for three years or more, and to provide support to the same five organizations as they move through assessment, planning, and implementation phases of their work. At the end of the first year, the five grantees have completed comprehensive neighborhood assessments, including mapping the assets present in their communities, and have engaged community residents interested in joining forces to improve local health outcomes. The five grantees are:

WIN (Wellness in our Neighborhood), a project of Grace Community Village, located in Rochester.
HOPE (Healthy Outcomes through Participation, Education, and Empowerment), a project of Ibero-American Development Corporation, located in Rochester.
COACH (Coaching, Organizing, Accessing Community Health), a project of the Charles Settlement House, located in Rochester.
Our Town Rocks (focussing on the rural communities of Barrington, Starkey, and Dundee), a project of S2AY Rural Health Network, located in Corning.
PALS (Puentes a la Salud, or Bridges to Wellness), a project of the Anthony Jordan Health Center, located in Rochester.

Each of the projects if focusing their efforts on a variety of local issues, including housing, the economy and jobs, the environment, safety, and opportunities for healthy social interaction. As they move into the second year, each grantee will be working with residents to develop a health status improvement plan that local people are willing to support.

The Greater Rochester Health Foundation has taken an important step with its grantee partners by trusting that they can successfully mobilize local residents toward neighborhood health objectives and that the results will reflect the goals the foundation has for the entire Rochester community.