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Please join The San Francisco Foundation and The Public Health Institute’s Dialogue4Health for the second in a three part web forum series on designing public-private partnerships to promote healthier communities.

The built environment is directly related to our health: you are where you live. In our first segment, we learned that built environment policies and regulations have a deep impact on our health. In this second segment, we will demonstrate how better building materials, coupled with stronger policies, can advance environmental health and social outcomes. In some cases, these changes can decrease or even reverse some of the most profound negative health consequences.

On average, people spend 90% of their time indoors and two thirds of that time in their own homes. Indoor pollutant levels can be two to five times higher, and occasionally more than 100 times higher, than outdoor pollutant levels. In addition to affecting building occupants, toxic chemicals used in building products can harm the communities where those products are manufactured and contribute to the global toxic burden. Stronger building practices and policies are needed to eliminate or mitigate these chemical risks to health.

During this Web Forum you will hear leading experts on green materials. Arlene Blum, founder and executive director of The Green Science Policy Institute, will discuss the regulatory framework, science, and health implications of chemicals in building products and materials. Bill Walsh, founder and executive director of the Healthy Building Network, will review common building industry practices and how they can improve them. Dana Bourland, vice president of Green Initiatives program at Enterprise, will discuss best practices of specific local projects, with a particular focus on HOPE SF. HOPE SF is a public-private partnership whose goal is to build green, affordable housing units in eight of San Francisco’s severely distressed public housing sites, and overall, create healthy, thriving, mixed income communities without displacing current residents.

Join us in conversation on Twitter — The San Francisco Foundation will tweet live during the Web Forum from @tsff using the hashtag #HealthyPeoplePlaces.

“Healthy People Live in Healthy Places:” A Three Part Web Forum Series on Designing Public-Private Partnerships to Promote Healthier Communities

People are healthier when the places where they live and work support good health. Without a healthy environment, people are more likely to suffer from obesity or many other chronic diseases plaguing United States populations: diabetes, asthma, and heart disease. A vision for healthy communities will be realized when all neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces offer safe places to play and be active. Achieving this vision requires the broad expertise and influence of policy makers, researchers, advocates, practitioners and funders working across multiple fields to change policies and environments. From the perspective of practitioners in the transportation, land use, and health fields, The San Francisco Foundation’s “Healthy People Live in Healthy Places” and the Public Health Institute’s Dialogue4Health three part Web Forum series will outline a vision for healthy communities and highlight some of the insights learned from successful endeavors to create healthy and livable communities across the country.