CHNA 20 is well known as a connecting agency in the Blue Hills Region. Recently, we’ve been recognized widely for our efforts to direct the Blue Hills Regional Coordinating Council, as well as our work to support local partner agencies in their COVID response protocols. But many of our daily engagements in the community are less visible -- yet they’re a critical part of our mission. In our new blog series, we’ll be sharing more about how CHNA 20’s presence on local and regional task forces, committees and planning councils helps shape public health improvements in the Blue Hills.

What’s the community project, and what is the CHNA’s role?

In 2018, the Town of Randolph partnered with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) to generate a town-wide community health needs assessment. In order to fully engage in a comprehensive planning and data analysis process, the Town of Randolph convened a Steering Committee to guide the needs assessment and resulting Community Wellness Plan. CHNA 20 was invited to participate, and has taken an active role on the Steering Committee since its inception.

The Randolph Community Wellness Plan (CWP) Steering Committee is committed to providing strategic guidance, vision and oversight to the project. Our role as committee members includes guiding the creation and implementation of the CWP, using data to inform our strategies, tracking the progress of the work, and leading and making connections between working groups. From the initial data collection phase in 2018, we’ve been pleased to contribute to the growth of the project through the 2019 drafting of the comprehensive CWP and the launch of implementation planning in 2020.

Why is this project important to the CHNA’s mission?

CHNA 20 works to improve public health throughout the Blue Hills region, with a goal of increasing access to care and services and addressing the systemic inequities that cause health disparities in our communities. One of our greatest strengths is our ability to serve as a neutral party in health-related efforts, engaging with a wide range of sectors to tackle serious public health problems. We consistently aim to support collective impact models through not only our own programmatic efforts, but our participation and guidance in ground-level community task forces, working groups and committees.

The Randolph CWP aligns with our overarching mission and goals for improving health equity in our communities as it includes the following key factors:

Strong data collection and analysis. One of the CHNA’s core strategic principles is to consistently evaluate the efficacy of our community-based work through data analysis. We favor evidence-based approaches to defining public health problems and proposing solutions. The Randolph CWP outlines and analyzes data related to demographic information, social and physical environments, health behaviors and outcomes, and health care access and utilization. It also seeks to uncover and address social determinants of health through community-based participatory research, utilizing focus groups and interviews from a wide range of community members.
Commitment to addressing systemic root causes of public health problems. CHNA 20 believes strongly that the path to sustainable change for the health of our communities lies in multi-sector, collaborative efforts that address the roots of health disparities rather than the symptoms. The Randolph CWP has identified key systemic issues such as transportation infrastructure; affordable housing; health care access; diversity, racism and representation; communication equity and accessibility; and education.

What are the next steps, and how will the CHNA contribute?

The Randolph CWP adopted a set of community goals as part of the long-term vision of success for the project:

Community: Randolph is a safe and welcoming town that celebrates its unique diversity, encourages civic participation, and connects neighbors.
Health Care & Public Health: Randolph residents have access to affordable, accessible, and culturally competent preventive care and medical treatment.
Transportation: Randolph’s transportation network provides residents with safe, multimodal, and regionally coordinated options that promote health, particularly for those with mobility and income constraints, youth, and seniors.
Housing: The mix of housing types meets the needs of Randolph residents, and residents live in homes that are safe, affordable, and healthy.
Parks, Open Space, and Recreation: Randolph residents have access to well-maintained, safe parks that promote recreation and are located near their homes.
Food: Residents have access to enough convenient, affordable, healthy, and culturally preferred food options at stores, in school, and through food assistance programs.
Schools: Randolph Public Schools promote student and staff health and engagement.

In order to achieve these goals in the long term, the Steering Committee -- led through collaborative efforts of the Randolph Health and Planning Departments and MAPC -- is convening working groups to focus on each priority goal and design action steps to help reach the committee’s recommendations. The CHNA will continue in its role on the Steering Committee and will take an active interest in guiding the efforts through utilizing the Collective Impact Framework, a structured approach to bringing people together to coordinate and act on complex issues in order to bring about positive social change. We have deep experience with coordinating Collective Impact models, including our own Behavioral Health Task Force and our BHRCC initiative, which we will bring to bear on our participation in the Randolph CWP.

How can I, or my organization, get involved with this community effort?

As with any worthwhile public health initiative in the Blue Hills region, we encourage interested individuals and agencies to get involved! You can:

Familiarize yourself with the full Randolph Community Wellness Plan
- You can also view the CWP 1-pager, available in English, Haitian Creole, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
Reach out to express interest in joining the project as a Community Partner to provide insights into the implementation activities. Email Heidi Stucker at hstucker@mapc.org.
Ask more questions! All CWP questions can be directed to hstucker@mapc.org.