Below are brief summaries of Grant Results Reports available on past grantmaking in this field of interest. In some cases, the grants were made before the team decided on its current strategic objective. Findings and lessons from the grants described have nonetheless informed RWJF’s grantmaking. Visit the Foundation’s Web site www.rwjf.org for more Grant Results Reports.

Moving Out of High-Poverty Area Is Good for Your Health
Research has shown that concentrating many low-income families in one residential area is harmful for them, but less is known about positive influences offered by alternative neighborhood environments. In the 1990s the federal government conducted the “Moving To Opportunity” experiment in five cities (Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York), tracking outcomes of low-income families that relocated to other neighborhoods compared with those remaining in low-income neighborhoods. In 2001 the evaluation team at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs expanded its assessment to include health-related results for children and adults in the relocation experiment. The evaluators found that relocation had important health benefits, including a significant decline in obesity in adults; better mental health in adults; and less psychological distress and generalized anxiety disorder among girls. A report on interim findings is available at www.huduser.org/publications/fairhsg/mtofinal.html. See the Grant Results Report at www.rwjf.org/portfolios/resources/grantsreport.jsp?filename=040075.htm.

Health Impact Statements Could Benefit Public Policy Decision-Making Process
Many public policies and programs (education and housing, for example) have both positive and negative effects on the public’s health, but these impacts are rarely considered part of the policy-making process. For more than 30 years, federal agencies have been required to prepare “environmental impact statements,” which help to ensure that all environmental effects of proposed actions are considered in the policy- and decision-making process. “Health impact statements” could be an equivalent tool for policy-makers. From 2001–2003 researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health examined specific policy initiatives in California for their health impact. They determined that health impact statements could quantify the health effects of proposed legislation and have the potential to become a useful tool for public policy decision-makers. Health impact statements would help support or refute claims about benefits, use agreed-upon rules of evidence and provide a common language to discuss proposals. See the Grant Results Report at www.rwjf.org/reports/grr/040853.htm.

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