blue hills regional coordinating council
As a regional hub for convening and connecting organizations working to improve public health, CHNA 20 is uniquely suited to lead a systemic project with broad implications for community health improvement. In Fall 2018, the CHNA 20 Health Equity subcommittee decided to pursue an action-oriented, solutions-based initiative to address transportation equity, considered one of the region’s most pressing social determinants of health. While there is much work being done in transportation both locally and throughout the state, many report that efforts are inefficient due to lack of meaningful, cross-sector collaborations to help coordinate existing systems and services.
CHNA 20's primary goal for this initiative was to convene, engage and lead a Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) for the Blue Hills region. Across the state of Massachusetts, RCCs bring together stakeholders to share information, identify unmet needs, develop local and regional transportation priorities, and raise awareness of the importance of transportation in the lives of residents. Prior to this time, the Blue Hills region lacked a dedicated RCC, so CHNA 20 collaborated with MassMobility to establish one. Since January 2019 a group of over 20 stakeholders, including state transportation experts, regional planners, municipal officials, leaders of community-based organizations, transportation advocacy representatives, and residents, have met regularly to discuss transportation, accessibility, and mobility challenges in the area. To learn more about our project, including a needs assessment and regional action plan, we encourage you to visit the Blue Hills RCC website.