Health Equity Zones

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Rhode Island's Health Equity Zone (HEZ) Initiative

Mission

To build a healthy and resilient Rhode Island by investing in communities and their capacity to affect change; by honoring the expertise of those who live and work in those communities; and by challenging the systems and structures that perpetuate health inequities.

What we do

  • Create and fund opportunities for a diverse range of community members and partners to collaborate to build healthier, more resilient communities.
  • Provide technical assistance and oversight to geographically based Health Equity Zones as they form community collaboratives, conduct community assessments, prioritize community needs, and develop and evaluate action plans.
    • The HEZ Learning Community is the flagship training and technical assistance event, which convenes initiative stakeholders for shared learning on a regular basis. Complete this Health Equity Engagement Form if you are interested in presenting at a HEZ Learning Community.
  • Support innovative, community-led, place-based approaches to promote healthy communities, eliminate unjust health disparities, and enhance the socioeconomic and environmental conditions of neighborhoods across the state.
  • Engage the community to reach identified public health goals. Complete this HEZ Engagement Form if you want to learn more about HEZ evaluation and assessment.

Accomplishments

  • Rhode Island’s Health Equity Zone initiative is a health equity-centered approach to prevention work that leverages place-based, community-led solutions to address the social determinants of health (SDoH).
  • Through a braided funding model, Rhode Island has invested more than $30 million in public health funding towards Health Equity Zones to develop sustainable infrastructure and support community-identified needs in order to positively impact the socioeconomic and environmental conditions driving disparities and improve health outcomes.
  • Supported the formation of 15 Health Equity Zone collaboratives in communities across Rhode Island.

Our Programs