Healthy Communities Initiative
Advancing the skills and resources of elected officials to advance health equity
David Satcher, MD, Founding Director and Senior Adviser Satcher Health Leadership Institute, 16th Surgeon General of The United States
About (HCI)
The Healthy Communities Initiative (HCI) is designed to close the gap between academic medicine or academic health centers and communities of greatest need by connecting to people who are most affected by disparities. The HCI is designed to mobilize and engage mayors, county officials, other elected officials and their teams by enhancing their health leadership skills, providing community health resources, and motivating leaders to influence policies and implement health projects that will eliminate health disparities. This program will provide an opportunity for in-depth engagement in exploring panoply of topics that will give participants concrete tools to enable effective engagement of multidisciplinary sectors, and resources required to improve health and community well-being. The attendees for this executive cohort range from mayors representing small cities across the east coast to County Commissioners from mid-sized jurisdictions in the mid-west and community stakeholders who represent public health departments and community organizations who work on policy, programming and services in their local communities.
2018 Participants
2018 Cohort Members & Materials
May 7-11, 2018 CV welcomed Mayors, County Commissioners,City Council members and their partners to the Healthy Communities Initative Leadership Program on the campus of Morehouse School of Medicine. Attendees included Mayors from Prichard, AL- Mayor Gardner; Colony, AL - Mayor Leeth;Eatonville, FL - Mayor Cole; East Point, GA - Mayor Holiday-Igraham; East Spencer, NC - Mayor Mallett. Commissioners and Council members including Councilman Lewis Johnson - Grenada, MS; Councilwoman Tyson from Birmingham, AL; Commissioner Nesbit - Rockdale County, GA ; Councilman Grey - Omaha, NE; Councilman Rodgers - Douglas, CO NE; Councilman Ellis - Harris, Co TX. Representatives from National Organization of Black County Officials; World Conference of Mayors; Baltimore, MD; Dubuque, IA; Des Moines, IA; Hattiesburg, MS; Richmond, VA
2017 Cohort Members & Materials
June 18-23, 2017 on the campus of Morehouse School of Medicine Community Voices hosted Cohort II of The Healthy Communities Initiative (HCI) is designed to close the gap between academic medicine or academic health centers and communities of greatest need by connecting to people who are most affected by disparities. Attendees including 12 currently elected Mayors and County Commissioners, 4 former elected Mayors and City Council persons, and 26 community partners representing health departments, tribal communities, and city governments representing Shelby County, TN (Memphis); Baltimore, MD ; DeKalb County, GA (Decatur) ; Prairie View, TX, Porch Creek Indians (AL), Jackson, MS; Alameda County, CA (Oakland), Cook County, IL (Chicago); Ramsey County, MN (St. Paul), Hayneville, AL; Boligee, AL; Mound Bayou, MS; District Heights, MD; Holly Hiss, SC; Lisman, AL and New Orleans, LA.
Program Outcomes and Local Impacts
Each elected official partnered with a local community partner and government resource developed action plans for addressing health disparities in their local communities focused on 6 key areas of the initiative Boys and Men of Color, Mental Health, Community Safety, HIV/AIDs, Integrated Care or Built Environment