February 2023

What health concerns are impacting your neighborhood?

The Equitable Neighborhoods Initiative is trying to learn more about the health issues that are important to your community. One way to shape ENI in your community is to share your perspective by answering a brief questionnaire. Your responses, and the responses of your fellow community members, will be used to develop a health equity action plan for your community! Completing this questionnaire contributes to real actions that will be taken to improve health in your town.

If you live in or spend a significant amount of time with the community in one of the 15 communities below, please consider taking this questionnaire.

ENI is working with each of our partner communities to build healing zones or natural spaces that provide recreation and improve physical and mental health. These healing zones will be as unique as each of the communities and will include elements that are important to their history, culture, and health priorities. This could include decorative benches to rest, exercise elements geared towards all ages and abilities, and spaces that encourage social gatherings. 

Several of our communities have already begun the planning process, which includes direct feedback from community members about what they would like this space to look like. Pictured below are planning sessions in Blountsville and Dadeville.

Learn more about Alabama's first Black-incorporated community

In 1899, Hobson City, Alabama, became the first incorporated Black city in Alabama. 124 years later, Hobson City still stands strong and celebrates how far they have come as a community.

Black History Month was first proposed in February of 1969 by Black educators and students at Kent State University and was celebrated the next year. Fast forward six years, Black History Month was observed all over the country after former President Gerald Ford recognized the celebratory month in 1976, the country’s bicentennial. Since then, February has been dedicated to recognizing the Black history of our country and its people.

Visit the ENI website to read more about Hobson City and what Black History Month means to their community.

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Where did I catch that?: A basic guide to Contact Tracing

By Debbie Quinn

We’ve all done it. You catch a cold, get a fever, or feel the symptoms of a stomach bug. My first thought is always “Where could I have gotten that?” I think back to the food I’ve eaten and the people I’ve been in close contact with – especially children. I’ve even called up restaurants to see if anyone else has gotten sick there recently. I can usually kind of put a finger on where or whom I got it from. It makes me... Read more.

Little Things Matter: How Exercise can Improve your Community

By Erica Cunningham

You probably know someone with a chronic disease. Maybe you are living with a chronic disease yourself. About one in two adults live with a chronic disease and one in four adults live with two or more, but only half of adults get the physical activity they need to help reduce and prevent these diseases, according to the... Read more.

Love given, love shared, and love received: One rural community's experience with COVID-19

By Teneeshia Goodman Johnson

No matter who you are, what you do, or where you are from, the COVID pandemic affected everyone in some capacity. March 2020 was the beginning of the scariest couple of years of my 46 years of life. The unknown is always uncomfortable and can be scary, but... Read More.

Community members will shape ENI to fit their needs through local Advisory Groups and Youth Community Councils. Together, youth and adults will work to improve health outcomes for their town. Several of our ENI communities have gotten both their Advisory Groups and Youth Community Councils off the ground!

Hobson City's first Advisory Group meeting was a huge success with 22 invested community members in attendance!

Blountsville also hosted its first Youth Community Council meeting where students talked about health issues facing their community and discussed how they could get involved!

So, you might have heard organizations starting to use the term "equity" rather than "equality" (hint hint: take a look at our name). But, what exactly is the difference?

Equity:

Recognizes that people have different circumstances, so everyone is given the right resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome

Equality:

Everyone is given the same resources or opportunities, regardless of need or individual difference

The Equitable Neighborhoods Initiative is a community-focused, community-shaped initiative. ENI connects neighborhoods to resources to improve health equity and the development of each community based on their unique needs.

Funding Acknowledgement: The Equitable Neighborhoods Initiative is supported by funds made available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support, under 1 NH75OT000104-01-00.  Disclaimer: The content of the Equitable Neighborhoods Initiative are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of or endorsement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.