Tag : health

What does opportunity look like for Iowa children (and we are doing the right things help them thrive)?

29.11.2018 172

Iowans think our state is a good place to raise children. But does the reality live up to our reputation? To help answer this question, the Child and Family Policy Center worked in consultation with other child health advocates to develop a Child Opportunity Scorecard—a set of ten indicators that capture the broad range of what it takes to set a child up for success.

Housing

Housing Policy is Health Policy (and Education Policy, and Economic Policy…)

29.03.2018 440

As the national health conversation shifted toward “social determinants of health” and “health in all policies,” so too did housers begin a discussion of “housing as a platform.” What we all collectively realized is that our decisions have broader consequences, and that we must all work together to create real and lasting change for the people we serve.

For all children in Central Iowa to have equal opportunity for good health, greater attention and resources must be directed to addressing the fundamental causes of poor health for children and youth. These fundamental causes, or social determinants, of health are often largely impacted by public and private, organization, local, state and federal policies and practices.

The Mid-Iowa Health Foundation HealthConnect Fellowship strives to engage and build the capacity of key professionals working to improve social determinants of children's health, and help them grow as public policy change agents to improve children's health in central Iowa.

This HealthConnect Fellowship Blog is intended to share learnings from the Fellows and other national experts with our broader community of children's health advocates.