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Dear friends and colleagues,

HIP is excited to release several new public health research reports on a diverse set of issues: a gang injunction in Santa Ana, CA; development and displacement pressures in Santa Fe, NM; and a roadway extension project in Bernalillo County, NM.
 
Read on to learn more about these exciting projects and the inspiring partners we worked with.
 

Dignified and Just Policing HIA in Santa Ana, CA

Working with The California Endowment’s Santa Ana Building Healthy Communities site, Chican@s Unidos de Orange County, KidWorks, Santa Ana Boys & Men of Color, Latino Health Access, and others, HIP completed a Health Impact Assessment of a gang injunction against the Townsend Street gang in Santa Ana. We examined the impact of the gang injunction on crime, safety, community-police relationships, education, and employment, and collected data through surveys, interviews and focus groups.
 
Overall, we conclude that the injunction is unlikely to bring about significant and lasting reduction of serious crime. On the contrary, the injunction could have negative effects on public safety, public health, and public trust. The injunction might make some in the community feel more safe, but this comes at the expense of youth, undocumented immigrants, transgender or queer-identified people, the homeless, and those with disabilities who report feeling threatened by increased police presence and profiling.
 
The injunction would also lead to significant disruptions in education and employment opportunities for those named in the gang injunction, with immediate harm to their health and well-being and long-term harm to their chances in life. The injunction could also divert funding from community programs that address the economic and social problems that solid evidence points to as the root causes of crime.
 
We made numerous recommendations for police and other law enforcement and criminal justice agencies, city officials, and the community as a whole. Our partners are now using the HIA in their campaigns to promote more just and healthy policing practices and in court proceedings to determine the future of the injunction.
 
HIP is grateful to our community partners and to the residents of Santa Ana who contributed their time, skills, and energy into making the HIA possible! The project was completed as part of HIP’s Health & Equity Fellowship by 2014-2015 Fellow Darío Maciel and Graduate Intern Sophia Simon-Ortiz – thanks to both Darío and Sophia for their work on this!

 
Development without Displacement in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Working with Chainbreaker Collective, HIP released “Equitable Development and Risk of Displacement: Profiles of Four Santa Fe Neighborhoods. Many Santa Feans are concerned that low-income Latino residents are relocating to neighborhoods with fewer health-enhancing resources, and that the City’s housing and infrastructure decisions are contributing to this shift. To help understand whether this was true, we examined existing conditions for a number of indicators of gentrification and displacement, and analyzed public resource investment in four Santa Fe neighborhoods: Downtown, Canyon Road, Hopewell-Mann and the Airport Road corridor.
 
Across Santa Fe, the risk of gentrification and displacement and access to public resources is playing out unevenly and inequitably. Increasing housing costs and declining incomes have created a risk of displacement for Latino and low-income residents. And while residents in some neighborhoods may not be as exposed to displacement pressure, protection may come at the cost of having fewer public resources. In contrast, residents of more affluent neighborhoods appear largely immune to these risks, all the while experiencing the benefits of public resource investment that low-income, majority Latino neighborhoods do not enjoy. Particularly concerning was the fact that neighborhoods at risk of displacement or lacking in public investment had higher youth populations.
 
To counter this imbalance, we recommended that policymakers in Santa Fe commit to a shared vision and code of ethics for equitable public investment, and develop a set of principles that guide decisions, maintain the integrity of city planning, better incorporate the voice of impacted populations, and hold elected officials accountable. We also urged the City to conduct racial equity and health impact assessments of proposed projects and plans and to enact legislation that directs the use of infrastructure, maintenance, and service funding to communities of color and low-income communities who need it most.
 

Sunport Boulevard Roadway Extension in Bernalillo County, NM

HIP and partners recently submitted a comment letter to Bernalillo County that included the HIA, “Shining a Light on Health: How the Sunport Boulevard Extension Project Will Affect Health and Well-Being.” In analyzing the County’s Environmental Assessments for the proposed roadway project, we found insufficient evidence to justify the stated purpose and central need for the project, which was to relieve traffic congestion. Furthermore, the proposal would add to the unfair environmental burden of a south Albuquerque community already besieged with hazardous chemicals and air pollution.
 
Specifically, not only does the San Jose community not appear to suffer from the traffic congestion used to justify the extension, but the extension could harm public health through increased air emissions and unsafe streets. Additionally, despite requirements from the Council on Environmental Quality that cumulative impacts be considered, both versions of the Environmental Assessment failed to undertake meaningful cumulative impacts analyses in each of the subject areas covered – an alarming omission given that the community has been next door to industrial and commercial operations for over a century.
 
Kudos to the residents of the San Jose community and our partners – SouthWest Organizing Project, Bernalillo County PLACE MATTERS, New Mexico Department of Health, and New Mexico Health Equity Partnership – for their continued organizing around the proposed Sunport Boulevard extension project. We began the HIA over two years ago when the County released its first Environmental Assessment. After numerous environmental justice and process challenges by community members, the County revised its Environmental Assessment and recently released the updated document. Unfortunately, the County’s more recent document reflects largely cosmetic changes. We’ll let you know when we hear back from the County!
 

Announcements:


Minnesota HIA Coalition 2015 Conference

The Minnesota HIA Coalition invites folks to register for its inaugural 2015 Conference on HIA. The two-day conference will be held November 16-17th at the Commons Hotel in Minneapolis, MN. Day 1 will include in-depth training for all levels of experience. Day 2 will feature speakers and sessions on both the challenges of HIA and the lessons learned from experienced practitioners in Minnesota and across the US.
 

Building Healthy Communities in the South and Appalachia

The Health Impact Project has a released a call for proposals for grants “to help communities identify their most pressing health equity challenges and the factors outside of the health care sector that help drive them (for example, housing or education).” Proposals are due November 13th.
 

Peace,
Afomeia, Celia, Dawn, Fabiola, Gus, Holly A., Holly L., Jen, Jonathan, Kim, Lili, Logan, Marnie, and Sara
 

 From The HIP Blog

Catch up on HIP's recent blog posts, and check out our blog: From the HIP

Oct 1, 2015 
‘New age trade’ could mean rollbacks on public health – what we found from doing an HIA on the proposed TPP in Australia
Written by Katie Hirono 

September 29, 2015
Dignified & Just Policing: Gang Injunctions and Other Policing Practices Have Uncertain Impacts on Community Safety and Health
Written by Darío Maciel 

September 28, 2015
Does Organizing Have a Place in Public Health?
Written by Afomeia Tesfai

September 24, 2015
Speak up! Health is created through collective efforts  
Written by Jonathan Heller

September 21, 2015
Is Discrimination Going Unexamined at the EPA?  
Written by Celia Harris 
 
September 8, 2015
The Greater Health Impacts of the Affordable Care Act
Written by Marnie Purciel-Hill

August 27, 2015
Climate Action is Health Action: Why Support for California Climate Legislation is Good for Our Health  
Written by Public Health Institute

August 20, 2015
Fair Housing for Better Health 
Written by Logan Harris  
 

 


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