Health Impact Assessment

Funding Opportunity – Community Driven Research Projects
to Advance Health Equity

As a result of HEP’s harvesting of insights process in 2021 to develop a new business model, NMHEP is committed to partnering with organizations to support smaller community-driven research efforts to advance health equity. These efforts will be an opportunity to go deeper into utilizing creative tools such as mini reports, photovoice, graphic harvesting, time lapse videos, and other creative storytelling methods for communities to tell their narratives and utilize creative tactics to organize for policy change. The projects may serve as seed for future Health Impact Assessments, be a follow up to a recently completed Health Impact Assessment or be a standalone project.

On a rolling basis, between July 2022 and December 2022 (or when the funds run out), HEP will select two organizations to receive up to $10,000 to conduct a small community driven research project to advance health equity. Technical support may be provided upon request. The applications funded must have a strong racial justice lens. Please view application here. For more information or questions, please email David Gaussoin.

The New Mexico Health Equity Partnership (HEP) trains residents and community groups on how to make a more compelling case with greater impact when engaging policymakers on issues they care most about. One critical tool that we provide and teach is the Health Impact Assessment (HIA). Through the HIA, advocates and residents learn how to collect and utilize data that can inform policy change, and hold decision makers accountable. The HIA is an effective means in empowering and elevating community members’ voices. HIA has produced the following results:

  • It builds leadership. Community members learn how to navigate the political system. They become more knowledgeable about decision making processes, and they become more comfortable with speaking before decision makers.
  • It commands attention from decision makers and leads to the adoption of community recommendations.
  • It fosters communication and collaboration among disparate groups that previously did not have good relationships.

A report by New Stories to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, highlights HIA as a best practice. The NMHEP members are noted as STARS as communities coming together to inform policies to improve health via HIA. The report notes that what is particularly relevant in New Mexico is that HIA’s are being used by enough people in enough communities that they are creating a common vocabulary for action and learning.

In June 2021, HEP launched an Indigenous HIA toolkit which was co-created by Roanhorse Consulting, Indigenous community partners, HEP staff, HEP HIA Technical Assistance providers, and HIA teams. The intent of the Indigenous HIA toolkit is to acknowledge and uplift inherent Indigenous knowledge, strengths, and approaches; complement existing HIA processes and planning; and provide another powerful tool for Native communities to strengthen the health and wellbeing of future generations. We invite you to check out and utilize the Indigenous HIA toolkit at the link below, as well as our other HIA resources.

What is HIA?

Toolkits

HIA Training Slides and Educational Resources

HIA Worksheets

What HIAs have been completed in New Mexico?

HIA National Partners and Additional Resources