West Sacramento Accountable Communities for Health Initiative (ACH)
Leveraging the power of relationships to create systematic change to support health and well-being
The West Sacramento Accountable Community for Health Initiative is a multi-sector alliance of health, local government, education, businesses, community-based organizations, and residents dedicated to the promotion of health and well-being in West Sacramento.
The Health Education Council serves as the backbone convener working to align systems and resources through an equity lens. The ACH originally focused on reducing the high rates of cardiovascular disease in West Sacramento prioritizing upstream root causes including access to healthy food, physical activity and social connectedness. After the pandemic hit, the ACH swiftly pivoted to provide COVID-19 information, access to testing and vaccines, and food insecurity.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- Reviewed and shared data among ACH partners to establish a community landscape that determined group priorities.
- Secured involvement of senior level partners including the Yolo County Health Officer.
- Worked with residents to identify initial focus areas within the community that impact heart disease: access to healthy food, improved walkability, improving social connectedness and reducing tobacco use.
- Developed a portfolio of interventions to support identified focus areas identified by residents in an asset-based approach to health improvement.
- The ACH provided support to the City of West Sacramento in passing the restriction of the sale of flavored and menthol tobacco.
- Convened a diverse multi-sector collaborative including local government, elected officials
- Established a shared vision and core values Increased investments in West Sacramento
- Collaborated on the COVID 19 response serving as early lines of communication to identify priority neighborhoods, mobilize human and other resources to address food insecurity, and share COVID educational information.
- Engaged residents that identified over 200 community assets and disseminated resident grants duringthe pandemic.
- After the pandemic, worked to identify new local address priority focus areas including: access to healthy food, increasing walk ability, access to mental health services, improving social connection and secure housing.
Resident Mini Grants
In Fall 2020, the West Sacramento ACH invited residents of West Sacramento to apply for a mini grant of $250 to $500 to address community needs that were further impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The ACH funded West Sacramento community members or small teams of community members to carry out local solutions that addressed priority areas; increasing access to healthy food, decreasing social isolation and improving mental well-being, and increasing walkability/physical activity. The West Sac ACH worked with Hillcrest Advisory Group to interview three mini grant recipients and captured their stories and experiences navigating the pandemic.
