‘Health’ Archives
Evaluation & Learning
Understanding and sharing our results is a critical component of the BYI. The BYI created an evaluation team that consists of contracted evaluators, the CWC and an evaluation community fellow team to provide objective evaluation for the Backyard”'s resident engagement activities. The Evaluation team worked with the Community”'s Commission to develop a strength-based approach to monitoring and evaluating CHAT health promotion projects. The majority of the work has focused on helping residents develop their own tools for collecting information and understanding their work. A year-end template was developed in conjunction with the Assessment Team and Commission to allow CHATs to report their progress and challenges. The evaluation team also completed a review of several hundred articles in the fields of community building and mobilization for health promotion. The review demonstrated that the BYI is unique among national health improvement projects because in the BYI, the [...]
You Matter
Stone columns being built in 1928 By Sue Hunter Weir A cemetery seems like an odd place to be talking about building a healthy community since it”'s where most of us will wind up when our health ultimately and inevitably fails. But cemeteries are about more than our physical selves, they are about the legacy that we leave to others and that others have given to us. They are about stories; they are about community. Nation Builders. Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is a place of national, not just local, significance. Part of the designation recognizes the cemetery”'s architectural features, but another part, perhaps the most important part, recognizes the role that the people who are buried here in the Phillips community played in both our local and national history. They are not people whose names are household words, yet they are recognized as nation builders. “”¦who is [...]
Engagement with Organizations
Under the leadership of Hope Community, the BYI organizational team implemented a plan to research the interests and needs of community organizations in the Backyard area. Hope Community held one to one interviews and listening circles with 34 organizational leaders representing 31 organizations to provide an update about the BYI and hear their issues. Several key themes emerged: Support for the BYI definition of health and its focus on social connectedness as an important strategy to improve health. Organizations feel “silo- d” and isolated as immediate demands and inadequate funding make it difficult to take on new projects. Organizations are overwhelmingly interested in continuing to be involved in the work of the BYI if it is productive and action-focused. In response to resident”'s request for better understanding of available resources from organizations, the first ever comprehensive inventory of non-profits in the Backyard was completed. The [...]
