Community tools to promote health equity

There are many tools available to communities to help them design, implement, and evaluate community-based solutions that advance health equity. These tools can be organized by the three elements identified in the committee's conceptual model (see Figure 8-1): (1) creating a shared vision and value of health equity, (2) increasing community capacity to shape health outcomes, and (3) fostering multi-sector collaboration. The tools described here encompass approaches, methods, measures, and necessary infrastructure. The committee identified these tools based on the lessons learned from communities that have implemented solutions (see Chapter 5), a review of the literature, input from information-gathering meetings (see Appendix C for agendas), and committee expertise. This chapter first describes tools that support community-based solutions in a manner that applies across the three elements of this report's conceptual model. Second, tools are organized according to the three elements in the report's conceptual model. Third, widely available community toolboxes are summarized. Some of the tools shared in this chapter are explicitly designed to address social determinants of health, while others address the consequences of poor health outcomes, and some do both. The tools also vary in the time frame for implementation; some can be employed within a relatively short time, while others will take more time to plan and implement. (website abstract)