East Boston, MA

East Boston Healthy Families COllaborative

In 2019, the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC) teamed up with Catalyzing Communities to create a new collaborative group to improve health and wellness among school-aged children in East Boston. The East Boston Healthy Families Collaborative represents some of the community’s most well-networked and connected organizations, serving thousands of youth county-wide.

Community Highlights

Creating leadership opportunities for young people

East Boston was one of the city’s hardest hit neighborhoods during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the EBHFC recognized the importance of engaging young people to promote physical activity in the absence of normal community programming. In fall 2020, the EBHFC nominated young people across the community to form the East Boston Youth Ambassador Committee to engage young people in the creation and implementation of an innovative virtual campaign to promote physical activity and connectedness among youth.

Keeping Connected

Through participation in the Catalyzing Communities process, the EBNHC determined a need to better disseminate information about health-promoting opportunities. They created a Collaborative website with community resources and a calendar to showcase upcoming healthy activities in East Boston.

Social media for good

The East Boston Youth Ambassador Committee created the #HappyHealth campaign, a social media campaign promoting awareness of the link between mental and physical health in East Boston youth. #HappyHealth is being promoted on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Discord.

Thank you to EBNHC’s Let’s Get Movin’ program for allowing the use of their photos throughout this site.

INSPIRE CHANGE

“Drawing a causal loop diagram, knowing that all these things are happening at once, makes you think about what we can do in this complicated picture, how we can focus efforts and not undermine them.”
– Kathy Field, Director of Health Promotion and Service Programs, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center