This health impact assessment (HIA) evaluated the potential academic, health, and economic impacts of subsidizing the costs of student bus passes in Los Angeles County. The Los Angeles County School Attendance Task Force (SATF) was interested in developing a program to further subsidize the cost of bus passes for low-income students in order to increase […]

Located in the Houston metropolitan area, Pasadena is the second-largest city in Harris County, Texas, and is near two of the four largest refineries in the U.S. Pasadena’s Code of Ordinances states that the director of planning should coordinate the development of a city plan that covers multiple years. The HIA provided recommendations to the […]

The Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness, IDEAS xLab, and the Commonwealth Institute of Kentucky conducted an HIA to examine how implementing Project HEAL could affect health in the Smoketown neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky. Project HEAL is a community development model that uses arts and culture activities to increase civic engagement and drive […]

This health impact assessment, or HIA, will inform the 2015 Georgia Qualified Allocation Plan for low-income housing tax credits. The plan is required each year as the Internal Revenue Service allocates housing tax credits to state agencies, which then award the credits to developers of qualified projects. The HIA, conducted by the Georgia Health Policy […]

MetroPlan Orlando, in partnership with the University of Central Florida and the Winter Park Health Foundation, conducted the first transportation HIA in central Florida. The state Route 50 Bus Rapid Transit HIA analyzed the potential effects of implementing bus rapid transit along 22 miles of SR 50 on the physical, social, and emotional health of […]

The City of Worcester is beginning a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy in the Union Hill area, a neighborhood that has experienced decline in recent decades. The Worcester Division of Public Health, along with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and staff from the Worcester Office of Economic Development, will conduct a rapid health impact assessment […]

The San Francisco departments of Public Health (SFDPH) and Planning used the Sustainable Communities Index (SCI) to describe community assets in the Central Corridor and make recommendations for a plan that will guide development between Market, Townsend, Second, and Sixth streets. SCI, developed by SFDPH in 2007, is a system used to analyze communities based […]

The Childhood Obesity Prevention Research Program at Arkansas Children’s Research Institute, with technical assistance from Upstream Public Health, conducted an HIA to examine the potential impacts of a state farm-to-school (F2S) coordinator position on the health of the state’s public school students. As of 2017, nearly 1 in 4 Arkansas kindergarteners were overweight or obese, […]

The Red Dog Mine, in remote northwest Alaska, is the world’s largest producer of zinc. The company proposed an expansion of the mine. In evaluating this request, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that it would be necessary to do an environmental impact statement (EIS) to assess the impact of the proposed activities on […]

The Tri-County Health Department conducted an HIA of Sheridan’s Comprehensive Plan update, which is intended to help frame policies that maximize positive health effects and prioritize implementation strategies. The previous Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2004, had focused on programmatic municipal changes and guidance for specific properties in the community. One objective for the new plan […]

The Denver Environmental Health Department is conducting a health impact assessment (HIA) of the neighborhood plans for two North Denver neighborhoods: Globeville and Elyria Swansea. The neighborhood plans are currently being updated through a community engagement process. The HIA will make recommendations for neighborhood planning changes that can positively impact health in these communities with […]

Hennepin County’s Department of Housing, Community Works and Transit (HCWT) conducted an HIA to inform planning decisions on the proposed Bottineau Transitway. The transitway proposal would create a new bus or light rail line extending from downtown Minneapolis through North Minneapolis and into neighboring suburbs. The HIA was coordinated with the Draft Environmental Impact Statement […]

Youth UpRising conducted an HIA to inform the Oakland school board’s planning and implementation of a secondary, specialized learning academy within a low-performing high school in East Oakland. Located in a community with high crime, violence, poverty, and unemployment, Castlemont High School faces disinvestment, decreased enrollment, and a dropout rate of 40 percent. The academy […]

The Kentucky Environmental Foundation conducted an HIA of coal and clean energy options in the state of Kentucky. The HIA provided a health-based screening of the life cycle of coal from point of extraction to disposal of byproducts. These impacts are compared to those associated with energy efficiency and renewable energy options proposed in the […]

University of Washington graduate students, in partnership with the Seattle Departments of Transportation and Planning and Development, conducted a rapid HIA of the Delridge Corridor Project. The plan is part of a broader city effort to transform major roads and neighboring streets into safer and healthier public places. The health pathways explored included zoning, mobility, […]

The UCLA School of Public Health, in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Project MOVE, conducted an HIA on the health impacts of the Sacramento Safe Routes to School Program. The program seeks to reduce the number of children killed while walking and biking to school, and foster an active lifestyle among […]

The Council on Crime and Justice conducted an HIA to inform the Minnesota State Legislature’s decision to reform state drug sentencing laws by providing evidence-based information about the potential health impacts on individuals, families, and communities. The findings and recommendations show that particular changes in the proposed legislation could yield positive (or negative) health outcomes […]

The Cuyahoga County Board of Health (CCBH) is conducting an HIA to examine the health effects of the Transportation for Livable Communities Initiative (TLCI) planning project for key intersections of the four mile stretch of Euclid Avenue in Euclid, Ohio.  At this time, the plan intends to produce specific recommendations for 1) pedestrian and bicycle […]

The University of Texas, El Paso conducted an HIA focused on public transportation. The HIA solicited community input regarding transportation needs within Doña Ana County, New Mexico, between Las Cruces and rural towns in southern areas of the state. The final report recommended designing public transportation routes to increase residents’ access to health-promoting and educational […]

This HIA looked at the impact of the Minnesota legislature’s decisions regarding the adoption of recommendations from a state education task force on addressing school integration and improving education outcomes for students of color. The purpose of the recommendations is to close the achievement gap among students, which means improving educational outcomes such as graduation […]

Human Impact Partners conducted an HIA on the health implications of three different approaches to disciplining students in California schools: zero tolerance, positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS), and restorative justice. It is hypothesized that zero tolerance policies (in which students are suspended or expelled for offenses) may not make schools safer and may actually […]

This Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is studying a pending policy of the Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) on grade retention. Grade retention is the practice used by many schools, public and private, where an underachieving student is not allowed to advance to the next grade and instead is made to repeat the grade. This practice is […]

The Mississippi State Department of Health, in partnership with stakeholders from the city of Natchez and Adams County, conducted an HIA to inform decisions about economic development, historic preservation, and revitalization. The HIA examined the Adams County Civil Rights Project (ACCRP)—one of several initiatives to increase the profile of African American heritage in Natchez and […]

Conservation Voters New Mexico Education Fund (CVNMEF) conducted an HIA to examine how switching from diesel to electric school buses could affect the health of residents in Rio Arriba and McKinley counties, where air quality is particularly poor compared with the rest of the state. The HIA focused on addressing social and economic drivers of […]

The HIA addressed the health implications of a housing assistance and homelessness prevention program called the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MVRP), as well as proposed changes to the program for FY2006. The HIA: 1) looked specifically at program components like time limits, work requirements, eligibility determination and required tenant rent contributions; and 2) studied the […]

Texas Southern University conducted an HIA to examine the health impacts of possible development patterns that could occur in the neighborhood near a planned station on a 30-mile, five-corridor light rail expansion. Transit-oriented development generally includes high-density housing and a mix of shopping choices near transit stops in order to encourage use of public transportation. […]

The Mid-City Community Advocacy Network (MCC) conducted an HIA to inform proposals by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors and the San Diego City Council to try to improve the outcomes of juveniles in the justice system by adopting “restorative justice.” This means creating opportunities for victims and offenders to discuss the crime and […]

The Health Impact Assessment (HIA) Project, a joint endeavor of the Partnership for Prevention and the UCLA School of Public Health, conducted this HIA on a state legislative proposal to expand funding for after-school programs. The HIA found several potential health benefits that could occur through improving educational outcomes; through reductions in violence and injury […]

Human Impact Partners, in partnership with Building Healthy Communities Merced, the Merced Organizing Project, and the California Endowment, conducted an HIA of “restorative justice school discipline” pilots in Merced, California. Restorative justice policies are dialogue-based decision-making processes that consider the needs of all those involved in a disciplinary incident: victims, offenders, and school staff. In […]

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas completed an HIA to inform decisions by the Nevada State Legislature on proposed modifications to the availability of full-day kindergarten and on allocating state funding to support full-day kindergarten in high-risk schools. The HIA highlighted connections between full-day kindergarten and academic success. In particular, the study found that black, […]

The Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts, conducted a rapid HIA to inform the U.S. Department of Education’s proposed Title I regulations Section 200.21(c) regarding the content, procedures, and implementation of school-level needs assessments. Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, local educational agencies (LEAs) are […]