Cambridge Community Health Improvement Plan Reflects Community Voices

Submitted by Suzy Feinberg, Communications Specialist, Cambridge Public Health Department.

The Cambridge Public Health Department recently released Cambridge’s first community health improvement plan, which will set the city’s health agenda for the next five years.

“This plan addresses some of the most challenging public health issues facing Cambridge and showcases the power of collaboration,” said Claude Jacob, the city’s Chief Public Health Officer and director of the Cambridge Public Health Department.

The plan describes strategies for making tangible progress in four health priority areas:

• Mental health and substance abuse
• Violence
• Healthy, safe and affordable housing
• Healthy eating and physical activity

 Two additional topics—health access and health equity/social justice—are integrated across priority areas because they are the foundations of a healthy population.

The 2015 City of Cambridge Community Health Plan is the culmination of a two-year effort to involve the community, organizations, and local government in identifying the city’s major health needs and developing feasible solutions. The plan also helps the Cambridge Public Health Department fulfill requirements for national accreditation.