From Portland, ME, to Riverside, CA, from Flint, MI, to Gulfport, MS, cross-sector teams from 50 cities gathered in Philadelphia in early June to launch the Invest Health learning community at our inaugural convening. Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, charged the group with an ambitious goal: “Creating a new, highly-networked approach to community investment. One that recognizes that health is the bedrock of personal fulfillment, and the backbone of prosperity, and also recognizes that mid-sized cities can lead the way.”
More than 26,000 tenants — about one-fourth of Greensboro households — pay more than 30 percent of their income for rent and utilities, leaving so little they can’t afford food, transportation to work, medicines, child care and other necessities. With the enormous gap between the large number of families with very low wages and the shrinking supply of safe, affordable housing units, rental owners have few resources and almost no incentive for maintenance, because someone is always desperate to rent even the worst places.
need to be strengthened in order to improve the health of children and adults. Their new “Invest Health” initiative will be working in 50 mid-sized cities across the country.
The Genesee County Health Department and community partners, including universities in Flint, helped secure the resources.
The Newsletter for June 23, 2016 has been published.
Updated City Snapshots Now Posted
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