Drexel University's Urban Health Collaborative Accepted as NNIP's Philadelphia Partner

Announcement by Urban Institute
May 8, 2017

Urban Health Collaborative   (Philadelphia)

NNIP ramped up its expansion in 2016, adding local data intermediaries representing Houston (Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University) and Los Angeles (Sol Price Center for Social Innovation at the University of Southern California). 2017 continues the trend as Drexel University's Urban Health Collaborative (UHC) in the Dornsife School of Public Health has been accepted as NNIP's Philadelphia partner. The UHC has committed to the NNIP model of facilitating the practical use of neighborhood data in local policymaking and community building and emphasizing working with low-income communities.

The UHC has a mission to pursue:

  • Data for action – generating information on the magnitude and causes of urban health problems that are useful to city residents and policymakers
  • Evidence for policy - identifying the interventions and policies best suited to improving health and rigorously evaluating their implementation
  • Community engagement - working with community stakeholders in order to increase the awareness of urban health issues and help them to translate evidence into effective action

 

The UHC has projects locally, nationally, and globally, with a strong emphasis on serving Philadelphia. One example of UHC's Philadelphia-based work, is a neighborhood health profile for the federally-designated Promise Zone in West Philadelphia. UHC will also facilitate discussions with residents and neighborhood groups about how the profile data can be used to prioritize and advocate for community health needs. UHC plans to extend the profiles to other Philadelphia neighborhoods over the next year.

The UHC is also working with the Home Preservation Initiative to demonstrate the health effects of their home repair programs in four neighborhoods in West Philadelphia. Teams of public health research assistants and trained community members conducted interviews with residents about their perceived health benefits from the home repairs.  UHC and the Home Preservation Initiative will conduct a Community Workshop to share results from the interviews with neighborhood residents and weave those community perspectives into the interpretation of the data and identify community priorities based on the results.

One of the roles of the NNIP network is to promote the development of local data intermediaries in new cities. Learn more about becoming an NNIP partner.

Link to UHC