MISSOULA — Missoula is hosting a national conference focused on improving the health of communities across the country.
“We have selected the 50 cities in 2016 that we're working with. They're all small to mid-size cities across the country. Missoula being one of them. And today we brought together 12 of those cities to the Housing for All Summit that our Missoula team is leading,” program director of Social Determinants of Health Jennifer Fassbender explained.
Leaders from Missoula and other partner communities are discussing the unique challenges and opportunities that mid-sized cities face at the conference put on by Invest Health.
“One of the things I have loved about my experience with invest health is finding how many other small and mid-size cities deal with so many of these same issues that we do, but everybody's tackling them in different ways. And so, getting to come here and learn about some of the community development work that's happening, director of housing and homeless services Jennifer Palmer told MTN. “And the really advanced community engagement that Missoula is leading is the kind of stuff that we can take back.”
Attendees toured some on-the-ground projects, demonstrating to other partner cities how Missoula is a leading example of Invest Health values. A key theme of the conference is exploring the role housing plays in public health.
“Recognition of how the build environment — the home — impacts your health. And so we're trying to do what we can so that we have healthy homes,” noted Neighborhood and Development Services director Tracy Hightshoe.
Conference leaders are hoping to bring these ideas home to create healthier communities.
[Is] their home lead-free radon free? Does it -- is it pest-free? Does it have not have any mold or moisture? I mean, these things are all critical to your, to better health outcomes,” Hightshoe said. “And so, what can we do partnering together to make healthy neighborhoods and so everybody's neighborhood is healthy."
