LHD Instrument - WORD

Attachment C

Form Approved

OMB No. 0920-0879

Expiration Date 04/30/2017

Healthy Community Design and Built Environment Assessment

Local Health Department Assessment

Introduction:

With support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Healthy Community Design Initiative, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) and the American Planning Association (APA) are conducting an assessment to gauge the integration of public health and planning activities that promote a healthier built environment. The intent of the assessment is to collect data regarding the degree to which local health departments (LHDs) and planning departments are working together to advance healthy community design and to understand how APA and NACCHO can support these efforts.

Your input through this assessment will help to inform our collective understanding of the current state of integrating health and planning efforts, ongoing trends in the field and how APA and NACCHO can assist our members to work together to improve communities.

Please respond to the questions based on your understanding of your entire organization’s role and involvement in Healthy Community Design efforts. If a different individual within your organization is better suited to respond, please forward this message to them.

The assessment is brief and should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Please note: Once you start the survey, you cannot start over or go back to previous questions.

Your time and assistance is very much appreciated. If you have any questions, please contact Anna Ricklin at APA ([email protected]) or Sandra Whitehead at NACCHO ([email protected]).

Thank you in advance for your efforts.

Regards,

Anna Ricklin and Sandra Whitehead

Glossary:

Community Health Assessment (CHA): a process that uses quantitative and qualitative methods to systematically collect and analyze data to understand all aspects of health within a community.

Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP): a long-term, systematic effort to address public health problems on the basis of the results of the community health assessment.

Healthy Community Design (HCD): planning and designing communities that make it easier for people to live healthy lives. The goal of HCD is to make healthy lifestyle choices – such as walking, biking, healthy eating, etc. – easy, safe and accessible for all community members. HCD links the traditional concepts of planning (such as land use, transportation, urban design, community facilities, parks and open space) with health topics (such as physical activity, public safety, healthy food access, mental health, and air and water quality and health equity issues).

Health Impact Assessment (HIA): a systematic process that uses an array of data sources and analytic methods and considers input from stakeholders to determine the potential effects of a proposed policy, plan, program or project on the health of a population and the distribution of those effects within the population. HIA provides recommendations on monitoring and managing those effects.

Local health department (LHD): Local health departments are governmental entities within a city, town, county or district that have the authority and responsibility to protect and promote the health of the communities they serve.

Local planning department/agency: A local planning department or agency is a governmental entity within a city, town, county or district that works to improve the welfare of people and their communities by creating more convenient, equitable, healthful, efficient and attractive places for present and future generations.

Planning: Planning, also called urban planning or city and regional planning, is a dynamic profession that works to improve the welfare of people and their communities by creating more convenient, equitable, healthful, efficient and attractive places for present and future generations.

***Please note: Assessment questions will be displayed according to your responses. Not all questions will be shown to all respondents.

1. Primary jurisdiction (select all that apply)

• Urban

• Rural

• Suburban

• Frontier

2. Number of FTEs employed by agency

• < 10

• 10-24.99

• 25-100

• >100

3. Is your local health department working on issues related to Healthy Community Design?

• Yes

• No

• Unsure

4. Which of the following best describes the extent to which your agency has partnered with a local planning agency on a program intended to improve community health?

• My agency has collaborated with a local health department on a program intended to improve community health through healthy community design.

• My agency attempted to collaborate with a local health department, but that collaboration had limited success.

• My agency is planning to collaborate with a local health department.

• My agency has not attempted to collaborate with a local health department.

• Do not know

• Other (specify)

5. In your jurisdiction, which of the following other governmental agencies or departments are engaged with you in improving the public’s health through healthy community design? (Check all that apply)

• Parks and recreation

• Public safety/police

• Public works

• Transportation

• Housing department or authority

• Economic development

• Social services

• Emergency management

• Aging

• School system

• General services

• State health department

• Water utility

• None of the above

• Not sure

• None of the above

• Other: specify

6. In which of the following processes has your local health department engaged in the previous 5 years. (Check all that apply)

• Community health assessment and improvement plan

• Agency strategic plan

• Health Impact Assessment

• Environmental health assessment (e.g. Protocol for Assessing Excellence in Environmental Health –PACE EH)

• CDC’s winnable battle: Improve nutrition, physical activity, obesity

• Redevelopment plans/brownfields

• Community health board/coalition, etc.

• None of the above

• Do not know

7. Indicate the extent to which a planning department in your area was involved in these activities

(Carry forward items checked from previous question)

Likert scale 1- 5: 1 not involved, 3 somewhat involved, 5 largely involved

8. What was the impetus for collaboration with the LHD? (Select all that apply)

• At the request/requirement of local elected officials

• Community driven

• Through community health improvement planning process

• Agency leadership (i.e. planning director, local health official)

• Grant/funding opportunity

• Disaster/emergency response

• Through a coalition or other existing partnership

• Do not know

• Other (please specify)

9. Does the local health department’s strategic plan or community health improvement plan include any healthy community design priorities?

• Yes

• No

• Unsure

10. Does your agency have a dedicated budget to support healthy community design?

• Yes

• No

• Unsure

11. What are the sources of funding to support healthy community design? (Select all that apply)

• Local government

• State government

• Federal government

• Private foundation grant

• Other (e.g., fees, donations)

• Unsure

12. Which of the following describes the ways in which your agency uses staff time to address healthy community design. (Check all that apply)

• Staff member(s) dedicated full-time to healthy community design

• Staff member(s) dedicated part-time to healthy community design

• One or more staff members have responsibilities related to healthy community design included in their job descriptions

• Employ staff with training or background in healthy community design

• Other

• Do not know

• Do not use staff time to address HCD

13. Which of the following describes the ways in which your agency uses staff time to address healthy community design. (Check all that apply)

• Staff member(s) dedicated full-time to healthy community design

• Staff member(s) dedicated part-time to healthy community design

• One or more staff members have responsibilities related to healthy community design included in their job descriptions

• Employ staff with training or background in healthy community design

• Other

• Do not know

• Do not use staff time to address HCD

14. In your jurisdiction, what are the 3 most important barriers to collaborating between planning and health?

• Lack of staff time

• Lack of staff training/competency

• Lack of funding

• Limited agency authority

• Competing priorities

• Agency culture that discourages collaboration across departments

• Lack of understanding of other agency’s role

• Other agency’s mission/goals is counter to mine

• Interpersonal relationships prevent collaboration

• Different jurisdictions served

• Multiple agencies

• Not having appropriate point of contact at the other agency

• Other, specify

15. What are the 3 most important factors that led to success in collaborating between planning and health?

• Timing of plan update

• Grant/funding opportunity

• Agency leadership supports collaboration

• Community engagement (successful)

• Agency culture that promotes collaboration across departments

• Dedicated staff

• Dedicated funding

• Interpersonal relationships that encourage collaboration

• Elected officials

• Broader jurisdictional initiative

• Policy/law that requires collaboration

16. Rank the following training and technical assistance opportunities that would be of most value to your agency in addressing healthy community design from 1 being most valuable to 8 being least valuable.

To rank the selections, click on any option to display the number order on the right. To rearrange the list, select the training and technical assistance opportunity you wish to move and drag it up or down the list to the desired position. When you are finished, the most valuable training and technical assistance opportunity for your agency should be at the top, while the least valuable should be at the bottom. 

• Self-study using printed materials (e.g., manuals, books, articles)

• Self-paced, distance learning courses or programs (computer- and internet-based courses and sessions)

• Classroom instruction or attendance at a workshop or conference

• Webinars or webcasts

• One-on-one with an experienced professional in field (e.g., coaching, shadowing visits, apprenticeships)

• In-person training opportunities

• Access to other professionals working on these issues (e.g. e-mail lists, communities of practice)

• Customized onsite technical assistance

17. Rank the following training topics that would be of most value to your agency from 1 being most valuable to 6 being least valuable.

To rank the selections, click on any option to display the number order on the right. To rearrange the list, select the training topic you wish to move and drag it up or down the list to the desired position. When you are finished, the most valuable training topic should be at the top, while the least valuable should be at the bottom. 

• Working with LHDs

• Health impact assessment

• Integrating health into planning processes (e.g. comprehensive plans led by planners, community health improvement plans let by local health departments)

• Using data to inform planning and health processes

• Training directed at agency leadership (e.g. planning commissioners/local health officials)

• Obtaining meaningful input from the community

18. What suggestions do you have for training topics not on this list?

Rank the following informational tools that would be of most value to your agency in collaborating with your jurisdiction’s local health department from 1 being most valuable to 6 being least valuable.

To rank the selections, click on any option to display the number order on the right.  To rearrange the list, select the informational tool you wish to move and drag it up or down the list to the desired position. When you are finished, the most valuable informational tool should be at the top, while the least valuable should be at the bottom

• Model ordinances or examples of ordinances that address planning and public health issues

• Presentations (i.e. PowerPoint) describing the relationship between planning, land use, and public health and recommending approaches to collaboration

• Illustrated case study descriptions from communities that are leaders in this area

• Books and articles containing background information, data sources, graphical examples, case studies, and funding ideas

• Factsheets, issue briefs, research briefs, policy guides/statements

• Information on data sets available at the local level to inform planning/health

19. Anything else you’d like to share?

Please consider submitting a brief story about your successful work with your planning department. http://www.nacchostories.org/

Please click on "Submit Answers" below to send your responses.  

If you have any questions, please contact Sandra Whitehead at [email protected].

Thank you for your participation

Public reporting burden of this collection of information is estimated to average 15 minutes per response, including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate, or any other aspect of this information collection, including suggestions for reducing this burden to CDC/Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry Information Collection Review Office, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS D-74, Atlanta, Georgia 30333; Attention: PRA (0920-0879).