Health Equity & Community Wellness
Building Healthy Homes & Communities
What We Do
MPDC promotes healthy homes, healthy people, and healthy communities. We empower residents and encourage them to connect with each other – and with the community.
How We Do It:
We offer programming that encourages both individual residents and families to be physically active and to make use of public green spaces. MPDC works with resident leaders to plan activities such as community gardening, walking clubs, running groups, and exercise classes that bring people together and keep them active. This helps them achieve their health and wellness goals and facilitates a sense of community within the neighborhood.
To Learn More, contact Leslie Stafford / 617.849.6231
Check out Health Equity & Community Wellness’ info sheet!
Roxbury In Motion
Roxbury in Motion is a coalition of community partners and residents working on three project areas: urban growing, active transit, and complete streets.
How We Do It:
Roxbury is one of over sixty locations throughout Massachusetts that received the Mass in Motion grant from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Mass in Motion is a policy,
systems, and environmental change initiative to improve physical activity and healthy eating at the community level. Policy, systems, and environmental change approaches seek to go beyond programming and into the systems that influence the structures in which we live, work, and play.
RIM focuses on three project areas:
Urban growing: Working on a policy at the city level to increase community garden spaces by including them in new developments.
Active transit: Partnering with the City of Boston to advocate for the Dudley Square Complete Streets Project to include safe, accessible infrastructure for walking and biking in the main streets district.
Aligning with the Friends of Melnea Cass Boulevard to ensure that the redesign of Melnea Cass Boulevard reflects community wants and needs, saves trees to promote environmental health, and reduces the risk for people walking and biking along the boulevard.
Why is this important?
These projects are important because they address the social determinants of health, which refer to the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power, and resources at global, national and local levels. Our project areas work to reduce barriers to healthy living and increase access to health opportunities. The project strategies are long-term, sustainable, impactful ways to improve community health in Roxbury.
Why should you be involved?
As a Roxbury resident or a community organization, we need your voice to help influence how these projects happen. Understanding neighborhood priorities and needs help us advocate for improvements and projects that will more effectively benefit the Roxbury area. If you are interested in getting more involved with Roxbury in Motion, we invite you to take this short survey.
To Learn More contact Chavella Lee-Pacheco / 617.849.6223
Community Garden Program
MPDC’s Community Garden Program allows residents to grow healthy foods, meet their neighbors, and learn about gardening & healthy recipes.
How We Do It:
Orchard Gardens Community Garden and Madison Park Village Community Garden are the two gardens for use by residents of MPDC properties. The residents work together to grow and harvest fresh produce for their community.
To Learn More, contact Leslie Stafford / 617.849.6231
Peer Health Leader Program
Healthy neighbors build healthy neighborhoods!
How We Do It:
The Peer Health Leader Program is a group of residents who all work together to promote health in the Roxbury community. They do this through outreach, planning promotional health events, sharing information about health topics, educating community members about healthy living, and helping residents get engaged in health activities. The Peer Health Leader Program was started in 2005 by Dana Farber Cancer Institute to help reduce the significant cancer disparities that existed in the Roxbury community.
Learn more about the Peer Health Leader Program here or contact Leslie Stafford / 617.849.6231
