Fathers And Mothers Infants eLders and Youth
The Codman Square Health Council was established in November of 2007 in response to families being outraged with the health of the community. After a Health of Boston Presentation by the Boston Public Health Commission, youth and adults in Codman Square wanted a venue to address the local health disparities in a connected and holistic manner. The Health Council is made up of residents and community organizations working together to improve the health of the community.
While focusing on the overall health of the neighborhood, current priorities include addressing nutrition, fitness, substance abuse, and violence as health concerns. Strategies range from organizing the Codman Square Farmers Market, and increasing employment opportunities for youth to developing effective walk groups and providing education and resources on the health of the community
We meet the third Thursday of every month from 4-5:30pm at 637 Washington Street 02124. For more information contact the Codman Square Health Council at
Codman Square Health Council
In the Codman Square neighborhood of Boston,
Since 2007, FAMILY, Inc. has been busy at work in the Codman Square community to knit together many threads of activities and services into a unified fabric of support for children and families in the community.
12.02.2009
A Community Call to Action:
Community Meeting on the Health of South Dorchester (Codman Square)
The Health of Codman Square Community Meeting, co-sponsored by the Codman Square Health Council, the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) and the Boston Alliance for Community Health (BACH), was the third in a series of meetings held annually by BPHC. The meeting was held on December 2, 2009 at the Great Hall and highlighted several health issues affecting adults and youth in the neighborhood of Codman Square in Dorchester. Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Executive Director of BPHC, presented data about health equity and community assets in Codman Square, along with three other community experts on health and violence prevention, focusing on the areas of gun violence, overweight/obesity, diabetes, heart disease and substance abuse/underage drinking. Over 140 community residents attended the meeting and staff from partnering organizations, all of which had the opportunity to discuss each health issue in table based discussion groups, which were facilitated and recorded by members of the BOLD Teens and Health Council. Participants also discussed potential solutions that community residents could act on at the local, state and national levels, both individually and collectively, within the community and through partnering with outside entities.
The table discussions focused on answering a series of questions related to each health topic, aimed at creating constructive conversations about how the community can come together to address the issues they face. With regard to underage drinking, ideas included providing positive recreational opportunities for youth that don’t involve drinking, regulating the number of liquor stores in certain neighborhoods, improving enforcement of ID checks at liquor stores, increasing education in various venues about the dangers of substance abuse, as well as efforts aimed at reducing the number of parents and other adults who provide alcohol to minors. With regard to gun violence, there were important discussions about the factors which make residents feel safe or unsafe and thinking about how guns come into the community in the first place, especially into the hands of youth.
Measures discussed to address gun violence ranged from things like neighborliness and neighborhood watch groups to better awareness of the effects of violence on victims’ families and friends, as well as demanding that social norms in the community change, adults act as better role models to resolve conflicts peacefully and increase safe places for youth. Finally, the table discussions in response to the data about chronic disease and obesity rates were quite wide ranging and included both barriers to healthier lifestyles such as lack of motivation, time to cook or knowledge of how to do so, or money to buy a gym membership, as well as solutions to address the lack of access to healthy food for many in the Codman Square neighborhood, by working with corner stores, increasing the availability of cooking classes or improving the quality of meals in schools.
In collaboration with BACH and BPHC, the Codman Square Health Council plans to engage community members in following up on some of the solutions as part of its work to build a healthier Dorchester.
RMichelle social butterfly experiment
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