Cambridge Public Health Department Releases Community Health Needs Assessment Report

The Cambridge Public Health Department (CPHD) has recently released the City of Cambridge’s Community Health Needs Assessment Report. This assessment results from the work of a Community Advisory Committee convened by CPHD to help guide the department’s work over the next several years. Committee members represented city agencies and community nonprofit partners who were invited to bring their voices and perspectives to the process that informs CPHD’s programmatic priorities. 

The Community Advisory Committee considered a wide range data sources, exploring:

• Demographics of the Population Served by CPHD; 
• Health Status and Health-Related Behaviors; 
• Community Assets and Resources, Utilization, and Barriers to Care; 
• Social Determinants of Health; and 
• Health Disparities. 

The group reached conclusions about the major challenges to health equity for certain groups in the city including: immigrants, refugees, and people of color;  older adults and people with disabilities; low-income families/individuals, persons who are unhoused, and victims of abuse, neglect, and exploitation; and youth, young adults, and the LGBTQIA+ community. 

Based on their examination of the data, the committee identified crosscutting issues that, if addressed in the city’s Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), could improve health equity for multiple populations in Cambridge.

The Priority Areas that will guide CPHD’s work are:

• Health & Systems Literacy: Educating the community to understand health information, access preventive screenings, and navigate the health care system, focusing on maternal care, chronic disease, and mental health.
• Isolation & Community Connection: De-stigmatizing mental and behavioral health issues, navigating the mental health care landscape, increasing neighborhood engagement, and collaborating with the hospital system.

CPHD has embarked on its CHIP planning work and will invite community partners to join them to develop strategies for addressing the priority areas.