Address quality of life for everyone Healthy communities strive to attend to the basic emotional, physical and spiritual needs of everyone in the community. Diverse citizen participation and widespread community ownership In healthy communities, all people take active and ongoing responsibility for themselves, their families, their property and their community. A leader’s work is to find common ground among participants so that everyone is empowered to take direct action for health and influence community directions.
Focus on “systems change” This is about changing the way people live and work together. It is about how community services are delivered, how information is shared, how local government operates, and how business is conducted. It’s about resource allocation and decision making, not just “nice” projects.
Build capacity using local assets and resources This means starting from existing community strengths and successes and then investing in the enhancement of a community’s “civic infrastructure.” By developing an infrastructure that encourages health, fewer resources will need to be spent on “back end” services that attempt to fix the problems resulting from a weak infrastructure.
Benchmark and measure progress and outcomes Healthy communities use performance measures and community indicators to help expand the flow of information and accountability to all citizens, as well as to reveal whether residents are heading toward or away from stated goals. Timely, accurate information is vital to sustaining long-term community improvement.
From: Healthy People in Healthy Communities, Coalition for Healthier Cities and Communities