Building Healthy Communities: What news coverage of crime and prevention means for health equity work
In 2010, The California Endowment launched its Building Healthy Communities initiative, a 10-year, $1 billion community-led effort to use policy and narrative change to transform 14 of the state’s communities that are experiencing severe health inequities.
To support BHC’s narrative change efforts, BMSG conducted a comprehensive analysis of how investing in health and prevention versus crime and punishment appeared in both English- and Spanish-language news outlets that cover several of the BHC locations: Salinas, Richmond, Oakland, and Sacramento. We explored how the news compares with BHC’s messaging around reinvestment and prevention and examining implications for future BHC work.