The Health in All Policies Task Force has helped bring fresh produce to California schools.
Photo courtesy of SDI Productions, iStockphoto
Considering health before taking action has paid off for California leaders and residents, who this year celebrate more than a dozen years of embracing the concept together.
Known as “health in all policies”, the strategy urges policymakers to consider health when making any decisions that affect a community (such as housing, transport 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. The task force, which still operates today, is made up of leaders from about 30 state government agencies, community nonprofit organizations and local health departments.
The task force demonstrates that “public health has a place in all policies,” said Julia Caplan, MPP, MPH, executive director of State of Equity. The health of the nation. “It has proven to be a bipartisan effort to put 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 the California Department of Public Health to create the task force.
Over its lifetime, the task force has initiated dozens of successful projects in California, including work to increase access to healthy foods in schools. In 2014, the task force’s work led to the creation of the state Farm to Fork Office, which works with California growers, transportation services, schools and communities to bring fresh produce to students’ 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 instrumental in solidifying partnerships to create Safe Routes to School, an initiative involving 22 schools in Salinas Valley, California, home to many low-income Hispanic farmworkers.
Collaboration with the Monterey County Health Department, local governments, schools, and community groups led to educational and infrastructure changes that helped make walking, bicycling, and riding public transportation safer. Walkers and cyclists get physical activity, and fewer parents and caregivers taking 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 chair of the task force from 2012 to 2020. “Each jurisdiction will craft its own initiative differently based on its community priorities and its government leadership structures.”
Supporting leaders who support public health can continue the work, which “creates opportunities for continued evolution of our health across policy approaches,” Caplan said. This year, Californians will vote for members of Congress and the state Assembly, as well as a new governor, he noted.
A new report on the task force’s work, “Advancing Collaborative Governance: A 15-Year Retrospective on California’s 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
