Building Health Assets
Community Asset Analysis
is an innovative approach to community health improvement that recognizes the profound connections between community health assets, individual health assets, health opportunity, and health outcomes.

The Power of Health Assets

Individuals and populations are able to achieve better health when they have access to important health supports, or health assets.  People who have these assets in sufficient scale and quality are better able to practice healthy living and obtain necessary health services.  On the other hand, people with asset deficits are at higher risk for adverse health outcomes.  We can see this pattern in health disparities between populations that have strong health assets compared to those who don’t.

Building Health Assets™

The Building Health Assets is a flexible, evidence-based approach for analyzing and addressing health challenges affecting defined populations.  The model is based on the proposition that community health assets can be mobilized to strengthen individual health assets, thereby creating greater opportunities for positive health outcomes.

  • The population may be a defined community or a sub-population within a community.
  • The analysis begins with identification of health risks and health status concerns for defined populations.
  • The analysis continues with an assessment of gaps in health opportunities for the population based on their individual health assets and community health assets.
  • The results of the analysis are used to identify specific objectives for strengthening individual and community assets to achieve associated improvements in population health.

Community Health Assets

Community health assets are resources that community residents can use to build or strengthen their individual health assets. Community health asset analysis examines the extent to which these assets are present for specific populations.  The results can be used to identify opportunities for strengthening community health assets as a strategy for achieving improvements in community health. A list of common community health assets is provided below.  The key to community health improvement is to create, strengthen, connect, or mobilize these assets in strategic ways to help community populations achieve better health outcomes.

  1. Healthy AirHealth Opportunity Analysis
  2. Healthy Water
  3. Healthy Food
  4. Healthy Housing
  5. Healthy Schools
  6. Healthy Workplaces
  7. Healthy Neighborhoods
  8. Health Care Services
  9. Self Management Support Services
  10. Early Childhood Services
  11. Senior Services
  12. Disability Services
  13. Health Coverage
  14. Social Services
  15. Transportation Services
  16. Public Safety Services
  17. Parks and Recreation Services
  18. Educational Opportunity
  19. Employment Opportunity
  20. Community Development Supports

Contact us to learn more about Community Health Asset Analysis for your community.