Healthy Communities Partnership Middlesex-London

The Healthy Communities Partnership Middlesex-London (HCP) supports the Healthy Communities vision of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.

“Healthy Communities working together and Ontarians leading healthy and active lives”

The overall goals of the strategy include:

• Create a culture of health and well-being;
• Build healthy communities through coordinated action;
• Create policies and programs that make it easier for Ontarians to be healthy; and
• Enhance the capacity of community leaders to work together on healthy living.

The provincial Healthy Communities strategy has three components; Grants Project Stream, Partnership Stream and the Resource Stream.  The Healthy Communities Partnership Middlesex-London (HCP) falls under the Partnership Stream.

Partnership Stream

The aim of the Partnership Stream is to create policies that make it easier for Ontarians to be healthy. To achieve this, community partnerships will be formed at the local level to:

• Engage community members, partners, networks, leaders and decision-makers;
• Assess the community and create a community picture that identifies local directions across each of the 6 ministry priorities: physical activity, injury prevention, healthy eating, mental health, reducing tobacco use and exposure, and preventing substance and alcohol misuse; and
• Mobilize community leaders, decision-makers and organizations to work together to build healthy public policy.

The Partnership Stream will link planning with community action by ensuring alignment between the communities priority areas of focus and programs funded under the Grant Stream.

The Partnerships Stream objectives are:

• To identify key health priorities that are supported by community partners and individuals.
• To broaden the number of networks, community leaders, and decision-makers involved in identifying community priorities.
• To strengthen the capacity of communities by increasing the number of partners and sectors involved in coordinated planning to create supportive environments for health.
• To increase the quantity and impact of local, regional and provincial policies that support health and make it easier for Ontarians to be healthy.
• To increase the knowledge within the community of effective interventions that impact health and the role of policies in influencing health.
• To empower communities to sustain health issues beyond time limited funding.

For information on the provincial Healthy Communities strategy:

http://www.mhp.gov.on.ca/en/healthy-communities/hcf/default.asp