The November 2011 issue of Health Affairs, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), explores how the community development and health sectors can join forces to build healthier neighborhoods. The issue builds on recent collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Federal Reserve System to pursue innovative new ideas and public and private partnerships.

The health sector and community development network—community development finance institutions, real estate developers, banks, city planners, and nonprofit groups—have worked along separate tracks for years. Yet these groups have common goals since better off communities are more likely to be healthier, and healthier communities are more likely to be better off. On both sides there are advantages to joining forces to improve progress toward the goal of healthier, more prosperous communities.

A series of articles in Health Affairs explores, for the first time, how leaders in the health and community development sectors are forging partnerships to transform neighborhoods and improve health.