Health Equity in All Urban Policies: A Case Study of Richmond, California.

Local governments working in partnership with communities can institutionalize practices that promote health equity. We offer a case study of how one city in the US is implementing Health in All Policies (HiAP) with the explicit aim of promoting health equity. We use participant observations, original document reviews and interviews to describe how Richmond, California, is building new partnerships, programs and practices with community-based organizations and within government itself as part of the implementation of its HiAP Ordinance.

A health-in-all-policies approach addresses many of Richmond, California's place-based hazards, stressors.

Poor and minority residents of Richmond, California, have faced a host of place-based hazards and stressors such as pollution, gun violence, and a dearth of economic opportunities, all of which have likely contributed to their poor health outcomes. In this article we describe the city's efforts to reverse its fortunes by embracing a health-in-all-policies strategy for community development. Starting in 2007, the city organized a series of participatory planning projects with residents, community activists, school officials, and other stakeholders to ensure that the city took health equity into account when devising each phase of its new community development strategy.

Health in All Urban Policy: city services through the prism of health.

In April, 2014, the City of Richmond, California, became one of the first and only municipalities in the USA to adopt a Health in All Policies (HiAP) ordinance and strategy. HiAP is increasingly recognized as an important method for ensuring policy making outside the health sector addresses the determinants of health and social equity. A central challenge facing HiAP is how to integrate community knowledge and health equity considerations into the agendas of policymakers who have not previously considered health as their responsibility or view the value of such an approach.