Your Community

Many aspects of your community can impact how long you live and how healthy you are like the types of foods that are available and affordable to you; the air you breathe; and your access to good jobs, green space and parks, quality schools, healthcare and resources. Streets in your community are also important. They allow you to get to work and children in your neighborhood to get to school. They bring together neighbors and draw visitors to local stores. These streets ought to be designed for everyone — whether young or old, on foot or on bicycle, in a car or in a bus – but too often they are designed only for speeding cars or creeping traffic jams.

So living in a healthy community means that it has been built in a way that can improve your health. It can, for example, support you in being physically active; in buying affordable fresh fruits and vegetables; in breathing clean air; and in providing you with opportunities to connect with jobs, education, resources and other people in your community.

Your Home

A healthy home is designed, built, and maintained in ways that support healthy residents. When the physical structure is safe, the water and indoor air are clean, and no one is exposed to hazardous toxins at home like second-hand smoke and lead-based paint hazards, residents benefit. It is documented that residents in homes that are safe, dry, clean, well-ventilated, pest- and toxin-free enjoy reduced rates of heart disease, fewer asthma attacks, and fewer injuries.