Human Impact Partners

The Guidance and Best Practices for Stakeholder Participation in Health Impact Assessments authored by the "Stakeholder Participation Working Group of the 2010 HIA of the Americas Workshop" is now available! The guide primarily targets health impact assessment (HIA) practitioners who are working to improve stakeholder participation and leadership in the practice of HIA. It may also appeal to community groups and stakeholders who want to more effectively participate in, lead, or influence an HIA.

This guide distills stakeholder participation techniques, case studies, and guiding principles from various fields of expertise, including HIA, environmental and social impact assessment, land use and transportation planning, community-based participatory research, and public health. It was informed by a host of materials that can be found in Appendix C. This document also draws on the expertise and experiences of the members of the Stakeholder Participation Working Group.

This is a living document that will be updated as new information becomes available. It is also one of many guidance and standards documents that emerged from the second HIA of the Americas Workshop in 2010. These other documents can be found on our resources page. 

Human Impact Partners, Advancement Project, and National People’s Action are excited to release an HIA of the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) project – the first HIA of a proposed federal housing policy. RAD proposes to improve public housing by allowing the voluntary conversion of properties from federal government ownership to non-profit or private ownership. While RAD proposes to address some of the systemic funding issues related to public housing, the impacts of the proposal on a number of health determinants remained unanswered in legislative debates, specifically how RAD might impact the type of management, evictions, and resident organizing; housing quality, affordability, and stability; and social capital.

Click here for the full report and here for the executive summary.

Click here for an op-ed published on Politico.com related to the RAD HIA

The case study describes the HIA process for the I-710 Project and also contains lessons learned that we think will be of interest to HIA practitioners and others, especially those interested in integrating HIA into Environmental Impact Assessments and in doing HIAs on major transportation projects. Click here to read the case study.

A Health Impact Assessment (HIA) of a Kentucky Worksite Wellness Tax Credit for employers leads to the introduction of a bill for the credit in the 2012 Kentucky legislative session. On March 1st Rep. John Tilley introduced HB 549 on a wellness project credit.

For more information, click here.

U.S. Health and Human Services (HSS) incorporates HIA in its Environmental Justice Strategy! To read more, click here. 

The HIA for the Hawai‘i County Agriculture Development Plan is now available! This is a project of The Kohala Center in collaboration with Kaiser Permanente·Center for Health Research, Hawai‘i and the Hawai‘i Department of·Agriculture and funded by the Health Impact Project—a collaboration·of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts. The full report and executive summary details the potential impacts of increasing local commercial food production, promoting farm to school procurement, and supporting school, community and home food production. 

Read the executive summary and the full report on the Kohala Center website. 

If you have questions, please contact the Kohala Center:

• P. O. Box 437462Kamuela, Hawai‘i 96743
• 808-887-6411
• www.kohalacenter.org

One of our partners, EBHO, is thrilled to share a victory six years in the making - a commitment for Concord to grow sustainably with 25% affordable housing, transit-oriented development, and plans for economic opportunities and open space. EBHO & their coalition won 25% affordable housing, jobs, and open space in Concord.

For more information, check out the EBHO website, listen to the coverage on KCBS local, or contact Amie Fishman at amie(0)ebho.org

We welcome Sara T. Mayer and Caroline Fichtenberg to HIP's Board of Directors!

The Society of Practitioners of Health Impact Assessment (SOPHIA), which HIP is helping to organize and fiscally sponsoring, is launching.  SOPHIA is an association of individuals and organizations providing leadership and promoting excellence in the practice of health impact assessment. We hope that it will be a leading network of health impact assessment practitioners. By promoting and practicing a thorough and systematic consideration of health in decision making, SOPHIA members will work towards achieving better health for all.  More information about the new association and information about joining are available at www.hiasociety.org.

Save the date for the Inaugural National Health Impact Assessment Meeting, to be held in Washington, D.C. April 3-4, 2012. The meeting will convene policy makers, public health professionals, planners, HIA practitioners, and anyone else with an interest in learning more about HIA. A special, one-day forum tailored specifically to policy makers will also be offered. You can register here. Scholarships may be available for travel and registration.