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It is a great time for prevention. As the United States explores what health in our country should look like, it is an extraordinary time to highlight the role of prevention in improving health, saving lives, and saving money. The Affordable Care Act's investment in prevention has spurred innovation by communities and states to keep people healthy and safein the first place This includes growing awareness that community conditions are critical in determining health and that there is now a strong track record of prevention success. Community prevention strategies create lasting changes by addressing specific policies and practices in the environments and institutions that shape our lives and our health-from schools and workplaces to neighborhoods and government. Action at the community level also fosters health equity-the opportunity for every person to achieve optimal health regardless of identity, neighborhood, ability, or social status-and is often the impetus for national-level decisions that vitally shape the well-being of individuals and populations., (© 2016 Society for Public Health Education.)

Prevention Institute, a nonprofit, national center dedicated to health and well-being, developed a toolkit for health and resilience in vulnerable environments (THRIVE), a community assessment tool, to help communities bolster factors that will improve health outcomes and reduce disparities experienced by racial and ethnic minorities. THRIVE is grounded in research and was developed with input from a national expert panel. It has demonstrated utility in urban, rural, and suburban settings. Within months of piloting, several communities had initiated farmer's markets and youth programs. THRIVE provides a framework for community members, coalitions, public health practitioners, and local decisionmakers to identify factors associated with poor health outcomes in communities of color; engage the range of partners needed to improve community health outcomes, such as planners, elected officials, businesses, housing, and transportation; and take action to remedy disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on California's Contra Costa Count Prevention Program. The program was intended to combine and strengthen disease prevention and health promotion programs throughout the county. It also initiates and support coalitions of community providers wherein it directs their efforts toward their common objective and helps in implementation of their projects. Moreover, it was funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety, San Francisco Foundation and Hand Across America, US Department of Health and Human Services and others.