Let’s Get Healthy, Boston is a partnership between BACH and the Boston Public Health Commission.  Boston PICH aims to create sustainable changes in the neighborhoods and organizations where Bostonians spend their daily lives so that healthier choices are the easier choices for individuals to make.  Boston PICH is focuisng on improvements at the policy, systems, and environment level that can be achieved through voluntary (non-regulatory) changes made by organizations and businesses within specific sectors.

Healthy Community Champions Initiative

A key part of PICH’s community engagement strategy is mobilizing community members, through an initiative called Healthy Community Champions, to be grassroots ambassadors and educators at the neighborhood level.  In order to increase community ownership of the initiative, the Healthy Community Champions have been recruited by community-based organizations and coalitions that are familiar with the residents, resources and culture of their individual neighborhoods to support Boston PICH goals. This will build a sustainable and vital network of community residents trained in public health issues and ways to improve their daily lives and those of their families and neighbors.

78 individuals from 9 different Boston neighborhoods and 12 neighborhood organizations have been recruited to participate in the Healthy Community Champions Initiative.  The champions are supported by coordinators from their organization.

PICH’s Healthy Community Champion Grantees and their topic areas:

• Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation (Healthy Food and Beverage Promotion, Active Transit)
• Black Ministerial Alliance of Greater Boston (Healthy Food and Beverage Promotion)
• Codman Square Neighborhood Council (Smoke Free Housing)
• Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation (Active Transit, Smoke Free Housing)
• Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation (Active Transit, Healthy Food and Beverage Promotion, Smoke Free Housing)
• Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (Active Transit, Healthy Food and Beverage Promotion)
• East Boston Social Centers (Active Transit, Smoke Free Housing)
• Harbor Health Services/ Neponset Health Center (Active Transit)
• Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition (Active Transit, Healthy Food and Beverage Promotion, Smoke Free Housing)
• MGH Charlestown HealthCare Center (Smoke Free Housing)
• Sociedad Latina (Healthy Food and Beverage Promotion)
• South Boston Collaborative Advisory Network (Active Transit, Healthy Food and Beverage Promotion, Smoke Free Housing)

Healthy Community Champions Training Institute

As of June 8^th, the Healthy Community Champions Training Institute is up and running.  The nine week training program empowers the champions to become health ambassadors in their community, working to create change on the policy, systems, and environment level.  The champions will be focusing on the areas of active transit, healthy food and beverage promotion, and smoke-free housing.  The training program covers topics such as the social determinants of health and racial and ethnic equity and inequities; provides content training in the areas of active transit, healthy food and beverages, and smoke-free housing; and hones the champions’ ability to enact change with leadership development workshops.  The champions are working diligently to attend these training sessions and learn the material, anticipating the start of their hands-on work in the community later this summer.

Policy, Systems & Environment Changes

While the Healthy Community Champions are being trained to promote change, the PICH Team at BACH and BPHC continue their efforts in each of the three topic areas by collaborating with other organizations to move forward in the three areas of focus.

• Active Transportation: Boston Bikes is our main partner, working to increase opportunities for cycling in the City – primarily through expanding the use of Hubway – the city’s bike share program in low- moderate income neighbors.

• Healthy Food and Beverage: Boston Bounty Bucks (BBB): The BBB digital pilot, a project that will replace paper based BBB coupons with a digital card reader, went live in six farmers markets as of the week of July 6^th. The farmers markets are: Dorchester House, Charlestown, East Boston, Dudley Common, Fields Corner and Mattapan.  Customers who access federal food benefits such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance  Program (SNAP) or Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) and therefore have an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card, may use this card at a farm vendor’s checkout and take advantage of the BBB program. PICH staff and sometimes Healthy Community Champions will be onsite to serve as customer experience experts, helping customers familiar with the previous system to navigate the new system.
• Smoke Free Housing: The PICH team is continuing to recruit Community Development Corporations (CDCs) and large management companies to sign onto Smoke Free Housing policies and participate in trainings

Welcome Tamika and Caroline

Tamika R. Francis is the Community Engagement Manager for PICH. She has sound Caribbean heritage, having lived or worked on several islands. She moved to Boston ten years ago, where she immediately found herself connected to social justice issues and community organizing. Her role as volunteer and working with several youth and community development nonprofits across Boston led her to spearheading resident engagement on the PICH project. Tamika has a strong passion for the outdoors, farming, wholesome food and a reverence for tradition and indigenous practices. She earned her BA in Geography from the University of the West Indies in 2003, and her Masters in Sustainable International Development from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University where she focused on conservation and capacity building in the context of small island states. When she is not working on PICH, she can be found discovering conservation landscapes or enjoying delicious food in Boston’s neighborhoods or a foreign city.

Caroline Hone was hired as the BACH Community Engagement Intern for the summer.  Caroline is a rising senior at Boston College studying psychology and medical humanities.  She is supporting the Healthy Community Champion training sessions.  Caroline began work with us in mid-May and will continue to support HCC coordination through mid-August.