CHIA coalition targets food, housing and mental‑health access; county intends eviction dashboard and outreach

The Community Health and Action (CHIA) Coalition, a partnership convened by Sacramento County Public Health and community implementers, described at the Thrive Summit a concentrated effort to improve health by building local power and aligning resources around food access, housing security and mental‑health outreach.

CHIA presentations from county staff and partners said the effort will work “mile deep, inch wide,” targeting the county’s lowest‑opportunity neighborhoods and using data to concentrate investments where outcomes are poorest. “Power is the ability to achieve purpose,” Sacramento County Public Health analyst Tim Choi said in his presentation, arguing that community power‑building is key to improving health outcomes.

Crystal Harding, program manager at Public Health Advocates and CHIA’s implementing lead, described a steering committee, resident‑led subcommittees and early products: a decentralized, community‑driven food action plan, a housing security subcommittee aiming to reduce evictions and an interactive eviction dashboard to map patterns and target resources. “We like to say we move at the speed of trust,” Harding said, describing CHIA’s emphasis on relationship‑based work.

CHIA also announced a countywide behavioral‑health media investment intended to normalize help seeking and promote the 988 crisis line. Presenters said the coalition invested $100,000 for bus wraps, lawn signs and other outreach to raise visibility of 988 and related supports.

Partners cited neighborhood pilots and youth engagement as central tactics. CHIA materials singled out a planning area known locally as the “Fruitridge Finger” (census tract identified in presentations as tract 4401) as a priority zone where roughly 5,500 residents live and where food, housing and mental‑health indicators are among the county’s lowest.

County and coalition leaders asked for public partnership in outreach and for continued funding to sustain community‑led strategies. Organizers said the eviction dashboard and the CHIA subcommittee work will provide the practical data needed to focus future spending and program expansion.

What’s next: CHIA presenters indicated ongoing coalition steering‑committee meetings, public listening sessions, and development of the eviction dashboard and the food action plan. Organizers said community partners and managed care plans will continue to staff and lead the subcommittees.