by Becky Ennis
What is Health Action?
Let’s start with what we are not. We are not a political organization and we are not a program funded by the County of Sonoma. Health Action is a framework for community health improvement and health equity that mobilizes community partnerships and resources to focus on key factors that influence health, including health system effectiveness, the built environment, and social determinants such as education and income. Health Action is one response to the 2014 document The Portrait of Sonoma County. The Portrait of Sonoma County is an in-depth look at how the residents of Sonoma County are faring in three fundamental areas: life expectancy, education, and income. In this document, Cloverdale was identified as one region in the County where social services and supports were lacking; thus, contributing to Cloverdalians leading shorter lives with less education and lower income, in comparison to their Sonoma County neighbors.
What does Health Action Cloverdale (HAC) do?
HAC has two roles in the community. First, we have the capacity to pilot strategies and interventions that work to address healthier outcomes in our three priority areas for Cloverdale residents: a long and healthy life, educational attainment, and a comfortable standard of living. To do this, we mobilize current power structures and relationships, bridging the gap between public, private, and nonprofit sectors for collective impact. For example, HAC received $32,000 in grants, not including support from the City of Cloverdale, which we used to aid groups such as the “Tuesday morning St. Peter’s Church” volunteers, serving folks in Cloverdale who are homeless or at-risk.
Secondly, we resource community members to connect and support Cloverdale from within. Local volunteers, like Shirley Davis, saw a need to bring a program she was already working in, called Seasons of Sharing, to Cloverdale. HAC purchased a laptop and hot spot to equip Shirley to sit side by side and help members of the community fill out applications for rental/financial assistance, when prior to this the closest location to receive that help was in Healdsburg.
HAC is in an exciting time of transformation. The pandemic prevented our monthly physical meetings. In September we kicked off our reignition of Health Action with a Zoom presentation about a disaster emergency preparedness program called LISTOS. (For more information, please use their website https://nc707.org/) We are continuing our work to promote systemic policy change using the “Self-Healing Communities” model as researched and endorsed by Laura Porter of ACE Interface and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The SHC model proves that if our community will look at some of our most dire problems – food scarcity, poor mental health, homelessness, through a trauma informed lens; we will be able to solve problems that span generations. We invite you to join us for a learning opportunity below:
Oct. 15 Thursday 10-11:30 am ACEs and Self-Healing Communities for Policy and Decision Makers https://www.eventbrite.com/e/aces-and-self-healing-communities-for-policy-and-decision-makers-tickets-122179124049
Health Action Cloverdale needs your participation and opinions to continue the mission.
The next meeting will be October 20th at 4pm via Zoom. For more information or any other questions, please reach out to Amanda Farrar through the Cloverdale Senior Multipurpose Center. 707-894-4826 or amanda@amandafarrarlcsw.com (Please note if technology is a barrier to participation, the Senior Center will be able to provide socially distant viewing of the meeting at their location. Contact the Center for details.)
