Working to Advance Equity in Cities
Across America, city residents who live just a few miles apart – sometimes only blocks apart – have life expectancies that vary by as much as five, 10 or 20 years. The pandemic has amplified this fact, laying bare the urgent and glaring health inequities resulting from systems that have historically and disproportionately burdened certain communities while advantaging others.
The Cities of Opportunity (CoO) initiative support city leaders and their communities by providing a proven approach, a customized process, practical tools, expert consulting and training to help them identify and address the interconnected factors that impact the health and well-being of their residents.
The Action Cohort
The CoO Action Cohort guided an interdisciplinary team of municipal leaders, staff and community partners from up to eight cities through a 15-month process designed to help them identify and address health-equity issues specific to their communities.
Through tailored hands-on assistance and tools that met cities where they were, cohort participants used a proven data- and community-driven framework to:
- Identify policy and system improvements
- Develop action plans to address inequities
- Participate in peer-to-peer convenings
- Implement policies, practices, systems and structures to improve health, well-being and life expectancy
City Participation and Support
NLC launched the 2023 Action Cohort with the following five cities:
- Austin, Texas
- Dearborn . Michigan
- Manchester, New Hampshire
- Montgomery, Alabama
- Rancho Cucamonga, California
The 2023 Action Cohort highlighted the rich geographic and cultural diversity of cities across the United States. Each city assessed needs in its community in order to formulate and implement policies to reduce health disparities. To learn more about the work of these cities, read Lessons from the 2023-2024 Cities of Opportunity Action Cohort.
For more information about the Action Cohort, send your questions and comments to coo@nlc.org.
Cities of Opportunity
Municipal leaders know that achieving health equity doesn’t happen overnight – that removing inequities so all city residents have the opportunity for health and well-being requires considerable effort and focus, collaboration, dedication and the willingness to confront systems and policy barriers.
But it can be done. And the results are transformational.
Grounded in a Theory of Change and strategies that center equity, authentic community engagement and sustainability, CoO helps bring communities together through four key entry points (Action Cohort, Mayors’ Institute, Learning Labs and Solutions Forums) to find common ground and drive transformational change toward equity, well-being and life expectancy.
Cities of Opportunity Learning Labs
Open to all cities and their partners, these quarterly virtual discussions are candid, peer-led, curated and aimed at providing a broad entry point for all those engaged in advancing health equity at the local level.
Lessons from the 2023-2024 Cities of Opportunity Action Cohort
Lessons from the Cities of Opportunity Mayors Institute on Community Revitalization
Cities of Opportunity: Healthy People, Thriving Communities Highlights and Summary from 12-City Pilot
Affordable Housing & Health: City Roles and Strategies for Progress
