Boston Alliance for Community Health held its Annual Meeting on Wednesday, November 12, from 8 -10 am at the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center. Speakers at the Annual meeting included Dr. Huy, Nguyen, Interim Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission and Representative Jeffrey Sánchez, who touched on the achievements of BACH so far and the goals of BACH’s future.

BACH has completed an extensive community health assessment process, Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnership (MAPP), with the Boston Public Health Commission and over 75 other community groups and organizations.

BPHC partnered with BACH in a newly-funded federal grant called “Partnerships Improving Community Health” which will bring $1.8 million a year for three years to Boston for prevention of chronic diseases by changing policies, systems and environments by addressing tobacco use and exposure to second hand smoke, physical activity and active transportation, and nutrition and access to healthy food.

BACH has built new partnerships over the past year with small and large organizations from all over the city which means that more people with diverse perspectives are engaged in improving the health of the city.

Three of the essential public health services this diverse group prioritized were to inform, educate and empower people about health issues; mobilize community partnerships to identify and solve health problems; and develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts.

BACH:

• Held a community education forum at Haley House on building community resilience in the face of trauma
• Created and distributed a questionnaire on community health to all Mayoral candidates, five of whom completed it, including now Mayor Walsh.
• Sponsored the membership and attendance of two members of the Franklin Park/Franklin Field Dorchester Healthy Boston Coalition at the American Public Health Association annual meeting in Boston.
• Sponsored an educational forum in Fields Corner on the implementation of the medical marijuana law;
• Helped organize the new North Dorchester Coalition, which held “Speak Up,” a two day cross neighborhood discussion about community health. The BACH staff and NDC has also helped coordinate the development of a chlamydia prevention and testing outreach program in North Dorchester and Roxbury funded by BPHC.
• Worked to reinvigorate the Allston Brighton Health Collaborative and the Healthy Chinatown Alliance;
• Sponsored a training series at Madison Park Housing Development by the Center for Community Health Research Education and Services (CCHERS) for community residents in Roxbury and Dorchester focused on a greater understanding of the social determinants of health and skills to address those issues.
• Actively helped design and do outreach for “What Matters for Health”, an on-line game that was played for three weeks this fall to help prioritize the use of community health funding that will be available in a year or so from Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Over 800 people registered to play the game.
• Organized a first-ever gathering of leaders from Massachusetts’ Community Health Network areas and hospital community benefits staff
• Started a training and consultation process with BACH leadership to improve our ability to talk about and address race and racism;
• Worked with the Boston Public Health Commission to plan and submit the successful Partnerships Improving Community Health” federal grant Dr. Nguyen described which will be a lot of the work we do this coming year.