The process creates opportunities to leverage the assets of each field.
For example, planning professionals often undertake community engagement initiatives as part of their work, and HIAs can complement and strengthen those efforts by helping planners learn about the health priorities of the communities they serve and enabling residents to participate in decisions affecting them.
The city of Minneapolis performed an HIA of the Above the Falls Master Plan, which was drafted to guide redevelopment in a riverfront area, to examine the potential impact on neighborhoods facing significant health disparities and identify how those communities could benefit most from its implementation.
The HIA team contacted hundreds of community members through an outreach program that included community events, public forums, surveys in English and Spanish, and comment cards to develop recommendations tailored to support the plan's successful implementation.
Among the proposed solutions were programming and activities in the redeveloped riverfront area that engage key groups, including youth, people of color, and people limited-English proficiency. HIA offers a flexible, complementary tool that planners can use to with assess complex issues and strengthen plans, policies, and projects using data and stakeholder input cross-sector collaboration. health