The Health in All Policies Task Force has helped bring fresh produce to California schools.
Photo courtesy SDI Productions, iStockphoto
Taking health into account before taking action has paid off for California leaders and residents, who are celebrating more than a dozen years of embracing the concept together this year.
Known as “health in all policies,” the strategy calls on policymakers to consider health when making any decision that impacts a community — such as housing, transportation and development — not just public health or care.
In California, that push has been led by the state's Health in All Policies Task Force. Launched in 2010 by an executive order from then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the task force set out to create a more effective, equitable and collaborative approach to state governance. Still operating today, the task force comprises leaders from about 30 state government agencies, community nonprofits and local health departments.
The task force demonstrates that “public health has a place in all policies,” Julia Caplan, MPP, MPH, executive director of State of Equity, told The Nation's Health. “It has shown itself to be a bipartisan effort of putting people at the center of what government does.”
State of Equity, a program of the Public Health Institute, collaborated with the California Strategic Growth Council and California Department of Public Health to create the task force.
Over its lifespan, the task force has initiated scores of successful projects in California, including work to increase access to healthy food in schools. In 2014, the task force's work led to the creation of the state Office of Farm to Fork, which works with California growers, transportation services, schools and communities to bring fresh produce to student meals. More than 60 California K-12 schools have joined Farm to Fork, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, which runs the program.
The task force was also pivotal in cementing partnerships to create Safe Routes to School, an initiative involving 22 schools in Salinas Valley, California, home to many low-income Hispanic farm workers.
Collaboration with the Monterey County Health Department, local governments, schools and community groups led to infrastructure and educational changes that helped make walking, biking and riding on public transit safer. Walkers and bikers engage in physical activity, and fewer parents and caregivers driving students to school helps reduce the valley's carbon footprint.
“Health in all policies is an approach, not a prescription, so it looks different in different places,” said Caplan, who served as task force chair from 2012 to 2020. “Every jurisdiction is going to craft its own initiative differently based on their community priorities and their government leadership structures.”
Backing leaders who support public health can continue the work, which “creates opportunity for continued evolution of our health in all policies approach,” Caplan said. This year, Californians will be voting for members of Congress and the State Assembly, as well as a new governor, she noted.
A new report on the task force's work, “Advancing Collaborative Governance: A 15-year Retrospective on the California Health in All Policies Task Force,” is available online. For more information, visit https://sgc.ca.gov.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
