The Partnership to Improve Community Health Project (PICH), a CDC-funded initiative of the Boston Public Health Commission, aims to support implementation of evidence-based strategies to improve the health of communities and reduce the prevalence of chronic disease. PICH builds on a body of knowledge developed through previously funded Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) programs and encourages collaborations with a multi-sectoral coalition to implement sustainable changes in communities where people live, learn, work, and play.
The purpose of the Boston PICH project—recently renamed “Let’s Get Healthy, Boston!”—is to create sustainable voluntary policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) changes in the neighborhoods and organizations where Bostonians spend their daily lives. The initiative includes strategies to improve active transportation, healthy food and beverage access, and smoke-free housing. A key part of the project is mobilizing community members, who are recruited and supported by community-based organizations, through an initiative called Healthy Community Champions to be grassroots ambassadors at the neighborhood level.
The HPRC Team will evaluate strategies on Safe Routes to School and healthy beverage promotion in pharmacies to expand the public health evidence-base and disseminate the results nationally. The Boston PICH project will serve as a model for communities across the country from which to create, implement, and sustain population-based improvements that result in improved health outcomes for all groups, regardless of racial or ethnic composition.
Learn more about the Health Community Champion supported by the Boston Alliance for Community Health here: http://bostonalliance.org/lets-get-healthy-boston/healthy-community-champions/
Principal Investigator: Anne McHugh (Boston Public Health Commission)
Key Faculty: Steven Gortmaker, PhD
Funder: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Funding Dates: 2014-2017
Contact Rebekka Lee