Our Neighborhood, Our Health (ONOH) is an approach to improving the health of a neighborhood where residents are asked to identify pressing health concerns and their solutions. It is a scalable, collaborative, place-based,model based on community-based participatory research principles. We focus on developing a framework for neighborhood health that relies on neighborhood-driven solutions to neighborhood-identified health needs with broad institutional support in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Beginning with a pilot in the Roosevelt Park neighborhood in 2021, ONOH involves engaging neighbors in surveys and focus groups to identify top health needs. Once neighbors prioritize health needs, the Community Advisory Board supports disbursing mini grants to neighborhood organizations who meet those needs.
Today, the ONOH model is implemented in the Roosevelt Park Neighborhood of Grand Rapids, supported by the Hispanic Center of Western Michigan as the Backbone Organization and a Community Advisory Board, The Roosevelt Park Wellness Collective.
During the summer of 2024, representatives from Corewell Health Healthier Communities, the Kent County Health Department, The Hispanic Center of Western Michigan, and members of the Community Advisory Board (renamed to the Roosevelt Park Wellness Collective) met to reflect on the pilot in Roosevelt Park and discuss the future of the model. Moving forward, the Roosevelt Park Wellness Collective (the Community Advisory Board) will continue to meet and serve as an advocacy group within the neighborhood. Further, efforts will be taken to align future implementation with the Community Health Needs Assessment.
Refinement to the ONOH model in Roosevelt Park as well as expansion into other Grand Rapids neighborhoods is ongoing, with Corewell Health and the Kent County Health Department leading strategy and development.
