“The rankings are jarring...especially in communities where you have some of the best health care facilities but not the best health rankings and health outcomes. That gets you digging into what is really influencing and driving our health.”—Abbey Cofsky, MPH, Senior Program Officer, RWJF
The Roadmaps to Health Action Center provides free resources to help communities become healthier, as well as full-time coaches to support local efforts around the country. Read about the action center in the sidebar at the end of the report.
Thirty state and local coalitions of policymakers, businesses, and educational, community, health, and other nonprofits won two-year $200,000 Community Grants to address social and economic influences on health in 2011 and 2012. Partners have strengthened prekindergarten programs, improved access to fair financial services, built support for paid sick leave, and much more.
Twelve winners of the RWJF Culture of Health Prize (formerly called the Roadmaps to Health Prize), representing large cities and small towns, were honored for their work with $25,000 no-strings-attached awards in 2013 and 2014. The 2014 winners hail from Brownsville, Tex.; Buncombe County, N.C.; Durham County, N.C.; Spokane County, Wash.; Taos Pueblo, N.M.; and Williamson, W.Va. Read about their projects in the sidebar at the end of the report.
Partner grants to United Way Worldwide, the National Business Coalition on Health, and the National Association of Counties enable them to share information and ideas from Rankings & Roadmaps with local affiliates and members. Read about some of these projects in the sidebar at the end of the report.