Report Publish Date: February 2022
This report summarizes Toledo, Ohio’s health, wellbeing, and equity journey from 2016 to 2021, as part of RWJF’s Sentinel Communities Surveillance project.
“Toledo’s community capacity to promote health, equity, and wellbeing is rooted in a strong presence of anchor institutions in the health sector, with remaining needs being met by and in collaboration with committed nonprofits, businesses, and government entities,” the authors write. “In general, community capacity has remained the same over the past five years, and longstanding institutions and organizations have continued to weather changes to leadership, economic challenges as a result of the COVID pandemic, and shifts in strategic focus to better provide services and meet the needs in the community.”
Partners in Toledo were focused on cradle-to-career initiatives, public spaces and belonging, and racial equity and justice.
Begun in 2016, RWJF’s Sentinel Communities Surveillance project tracks how a Culture of Health is developing in 29 communities across the country. The authors wanted to describe key challenges, opportunities, and insights in Toledo.
For this report, the authors conducted 37 hourlong, semi-structured interviews between early 2018 and fall 2021. Interviewees came from a number of different types of organizations and sectors.
“Toledo’s journey to promote health, wellbeing, and equity is one that illustrates the importance of persistence and community engagement. Progress has happened slowly, but measurably, as the community navigates through challenges and is learning how to better engage the Community."
—RAND Corporation
“Other communities can learn from Toledo’s approaches to addressing social determinants of health and prioritizing the beatification of both the built and natural environments to foster a sense of place and community, as well as the challenges encountered,” the authors write.
Toledo is a midwestern, mid-sized city located in northwestern Ohio that has been impacted by the recession and a downturn in the manufacturing industry. Despite these challenges, the city has continued to invest in economic development to encourage job growth and address social determinants of health, including food insecurity and housing affordability. Efforts put in place before the COVID-19 pandemic slowed in some instances, but anchor institutions are now trying to get back to addressing the health, well-being, and equity needs of residents, with a specific focus on children and youth. Toledo also has a strong focus on the built and natural environments through expansion of its Metroparks system, development of a Riverwalk in a former industrial area, and support for the arts with the purpose of beautifying the community and building a stronger sense of place. While health equity has received more attention in recent years, driven in part by concerns around observed disparities in health outcomes by race and ethnicity, this attention has not yet translated into meaningful, sustained changes in the city.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, February 2022
Figure 1: Population characteristics for Toledo, Ohio Page 2
This study and report was conducted and created by:
This sprawling community's proximity to the Great Lakes bolstered its manufacturing might in the 19th and 20th century.
A library of research and perspectives about Sentinel Communities, 30 diverse communities around the country.