July 23, 2019
In 2017, Community Housing Partners (CHP) was among 20 nonprofit organizations from across the country competitively chosen for the Health Outcomes Demonstration Project, a joint effort by Enterprise Community Partners and NeighborWorks America. The project finished last year with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The Hearst Foundation, HUD, and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
A new report focuses on this initiative’s efforts to build capacity to measure health outcomes in community development.
The demonstration project was valuable for CHP Resident Services and the organization as a whole, as CHP’s strategic plan calls for optimizing health and quality of life outcomes for residents. Through the national collaborative, CHP received technical assistance, grant funding, peer learning, and measurement tools to demonstrate and document the important connections between the nonprofit’s senior programs and the health of residents living at CHP’s senior rental communities.
While the Health Outcomes Demonstration Project was a major step forward, it is not the only recent health-related initiative from CHP. From community celebrations and food programs to plans for a new wellness center at CHP’s largest real estate development, CHP is working to build connections between health and housing.
Williamsburg Health Foundation
In May, CHP hosted a Foundations of Health Celebration in Yorktown, Virginia, where new playground and fitness areas were installed. The celebration followed a $45,000 grant from the Williamsburg Health Foundation to replaced aged playgrounds at four CHP properties. In 2017, CHP also received a $5,000 grant from the foundation for a mobile food pantry.
Food for Residents
Last year, CHP Resident Services provided 54,772 snacks and meals to residents at CHP communities. Households accessed CHP’s on-site food pantries more than 12,721 times, and partners contributed the equivalent of $710,793 for in-kind goods, services, and volunteer hours for CHP’s health programs
A Wellness Center in Baltimore
CHP is guiding renovations on a 20-story, 350-unit apartment building in Baltimore’s Charles North neighborhood. In addition to upgrading the apartments and common areas, plans call for wellness center on the ground floor and a focus on health-related programming on the site. CHP has partnered with Johns Hopkins University and Central Baltimore Partnership on the future wellness center.