The Cross-Sector Toolkit for Health is a collection of health impact assessments (HIAs), data sets and indicators, research articles, policy briefs, tools, guides, and other resources to support policymakers’ efforts to consider health when making decisions across sectors such as housing, planning, transportation, and education. The toolkit was developed and is maintained by the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts, and is housed on Pew’s website. The toolkit:
The toolkit is designed to support diverse users from different sectors and organization types who have varying levels of familiarity with ways to incorporate health in decision-making. It can be used by community organizers and supporters, policymakers, HIA practitioners, funders, researchers, or professionals in sectors such as housing or education who are interested in learning more about the connections between health and their work.
The Health Impact Project conducted a qualitative exploration with 60 HIA resource users to understand what they need, how they seek out sources, and what challenges they face in accessing the information in HIAs. Recommendations resulting from that study included potential design features, such as an expanded library of supporting tools to help communities, agencies, and other organizations take action to improve public health.
HIA reports are included in full, based on the information provided in the submission form. For other resources, such as tools, data sets, and references, the project team evaluates a range of factors, including their potential relevance to the toolkit’s users, their accessibility without cost or special software, and their age.
Please download, complete, and email this form to [email protected] to submit a new toolkit content item for consideration.
Yes. Please see the question above about submitting HIAs and resources for consideration.
The toolkit is updated quarterly, and the landing page displays the most recent date. The project will accept submissions of new content and requests for updates on a rolling basis.
Each of the resources in the search results list is hyperlinked and can be opened in different ways, which are designated by the symbol that appears next to the titles:
The download button located in the upper right-hand corner of the page opens a drop-down menu with two options: “Download full results,” which will download the entire database, and “Download search results,” which will download the filtered results. Downloads are provided as CSV files.
Yes. Within the search results, click on the title of the HIA to visit the resource landing page. If a downloadable report is available, a blue box will appear on the right side of the landing page. Clicking on the link in that box will download the report to your computer.
The toolkit resources can be searched using keywords and filtering criteria. To use the keyword search, type in a topic or area of interest and press Enter. The toolkit will display results related to the search terms.
The filtering criteria are listed on the left side of the toolkit landing page and allow users to filter results by location, sector, drivers of health, community type, and affected populations. To see definitions for the filtering criteria, hover over the “i” next to the criteria.
To clear a keyword search, delete the search terms and press Enter. To remove the filtering criteria, click “Clear all” at the top right corner of the filtering criteria list.
To search for HIAs or resources within a certain time frame, use the “Date” sort and select “Oldest to newest” or “Newest to oldest.”
Certain criteria apply only to HIAs. If you selected resources other than “HIA reports” such as “Tools and guides” or “References,” those criteria will automatically turn gray.
Yes. Click the Share button located in the upper right-hand corner of the screen and select the desired social media channel.
Please visit www.healthimpactproject.org, email [email protected], or call 202-540-6012.
Please send an email to [email protected] and include details about the issue or request, as well as a link to the specific page, if possible.
