City of Alexandria, Virginia
________________
MEMORANDUM
DATE: SEPTEMBER 21, 2021
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Introduction of the 2021 Community Health Improvement Plan.
BODY
_________________________________________________________________
ISSUE: Introduction and endorsement of the 2021 Community Health Improvement Plan
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council endorse the Community Health Improvement Plan.
BACKGROUND: The Alexandria Health Department's 2019 Community Health Assessment (CHA) found that while Alexandria, as a whole, is healthy relative to the rest of Virginia, there are significant disparities along the lines of race, ethnicity, sexuality, age, income, and ZIP code.
These disparities include differences in chronic condition rates and outcomes, incidence of mental health issues, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and more.
Following the release of the CHA, the Alexandria Health Department and the Partnership for a Healthier Alexandria (a local coalition of health leaders and residents) facilitated the development of a five-year Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP).
In 2019, the timing of revisions to three major citywide plans coincided-the Alexandria City Public Schools' Strategic Plan, the Department of Community and Human Services' Children and Youth Master Plan, and the Alexandria Health Department and the Partnership for a Healthier Alexandria's CHIP. These organizations established a Unified Planning Team in the spring of 2019 to develop their plans collectively. This coordination provided added value to each by maximizing community engagement opportunities, sharing important data, and focusing on shared outcomes.
The CHIP development process was grounded in a community decision-making and shared power model that borrowed strategies from racial and environmental justice advocacy gr...
Click here for full text