Boston Healthy Homes and Schools Collaborative

The Boston Healthy Homes and School Collaborative (BHHSC) is a program in Health Resources in Action's (HRiA) Environmental Health Department. HRiA is a non-profit organization whose mission is to help people live healthier lives and create healthy communities through prevention, health promotion, policy and research.  BHHSC conducts its work by focusing on health conditions directly related to environmental hazards – specifically asthma and lead poisoning. BHHSC’s membership includes community-based organizations, public agencies, businesses, community development corporations, and local residents.

Our Mission

To promote healthy homes, schools, and childcare centers in Boston, and enhance the well-being of individuals who live, work, and play in them.

Our Vision

The broad vision is to reduce health disparities and promote the health and well-being of low-income and minority populations in Boston. Long-term impacts include:

1.      Housing promotes residents’ health in neighborhoods with the greatest health inequities

2.      Key city agencies incorporate environmental health standards/considerations into all of their policies and practices.

3.      All Boston schools and childcare centers’ policies and practices promote a healthy environment for learning, growth and development.

4.      Boston school and childcare center facilities maintain optimal environmental health conditions

5.      Community members and organizations demonstrate increased civic engagement and exercise individual and collective political power around environmental health and justice

6.      Public, private, and nonprofit entities demonstrate a commitment to environmental health through changes in their policies and practices.

7.      Boston’s health institutions and providers have the capacity to effectively prevent and manage health conditions related to environmental health and to prioritize them.

8.      The Collaborative has a strong, diverse and active membership that is viewed as a political force in Boston.

9.      The Collaborative will represent Boston as we lead and/or participate in collaborative work with partners throughout the state to effect policy changes and to share best practices.

10.  Local and national stakeholders recognize the Collaborative as a leader in promoting environmental health and justice, and adopt its best practices and resources.

Our Values

1.      Empowerment

o   Connecting programs and organizations

o   Being change agents in the community

o   Educating our constituents

o   Developing community leaders, including parents

o   Building leadership and power among constituents

2.      Commitment to our communities

o   Prioritizing work in neighborhoods with the greatest health inequities.

o   Ensuring community participation, buy-in, leadership and support

3.      Impact/Quality

o   Having shared clarity of values, purpose, responsibility, commitment, and accountability.

o   Demonstrating tangible and measurable results

4.      Diversity

o   Ensuring cultural competency and broad representation from our communities in our work and structures.

5.      Social Justice

o   Addressing social determinants of health

6.      Collaboration

o   Respecting and supporting each other

o   Complementing each others’ roles/knowledge

o   Sharing knowledge and learning from each other

o   Sharing best practices and partnering as appropriate.

7.      Honesty and Integrity