Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s (NCH) Healthy Neighborhoods Healthy Families (HNHF) strives to expand NCH’s commitment to the health and well-being of all children and families. HNHF is a housing first, holistic, place-based initiative in urban Columbus, Ohio. While locally focused, it is nationally renowned as an anchor institution with experience partnering with a local community development corporation on affordable housing. HNHF has leveraged extensive community engagement and public-private investment to lift up the historically divested population it serves. Now, we are expanding our sphere of influence to include additional neighborhoods. The well-being of children in neighborhoods like Linden has not improved because child health is largely determined by geography and concentrated poverty where children are born and raised. By taking the lessons we’ve learned from our work on Columbus’ South Side, including the use of the My Bridge To Success program, and adapting to input from Linden residents, our plan aims to lift up the neighborhood, specifically in terms of household prosperity and the social determinants of health.
