Healthy Communities Approach

Location: Alberta

Dates: 2016-2018

In affiliation with: Alberta Health Services

Project description:

The Healthy Communities Approach initiative, developed in partnership with Alberta Health Services, created capacity-building materials to enable communities to develop local health initiatives to prevent cancer and chronic disease. 

There are two broad ways to improve peoples’ health and wellness. The most common is by encouraging individuals to change certain health habits such as eating a healthy diet, becoming active and eliminating tobacco use, among other health behaviours. The second is by creating environments that support making the healthier choice the easier choice. The Healthy Communities Approach focuses more on this second category.

The program focused on Community/citizen engagement, Multi-sectoral collaboration, Asset-based community development, Political commitment, and Healthy public policy. A series of webinars on topics such as frugal innovation, creating community connections, social determinants of health, and sustainability were also developed. 

Related subprojects:

• Sustainability of a community garden in Calgary
• Frugal innovation for a park in Mirror 
• Promoting health in vulnerable settings with the Edmonton young offenders program
• Creating community connections in a limited resource housing area in Calgary
• Community support for the food bank at Fort Edmonton

Key contacts:

• Heather MacIntosh, (403) 210-6161, hmacinto@ucalgary.ca. 

From the field: