This year, the DCF joined the University of Delaware Partnership for Healthy Communities and the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services to launch Healthy Communities Delaware (HCD).

HCD is an initiative to help coordinate activities and resources throughout the state to address the social determinants of health — which are social factors that affect our physical health, such as housing, education, food, income, and social justice and equity.

Delaware’s current investments in health care have not led to better outcomes – according to the United Health Foundation’s website americashealthrankings.org, the state is ranked 31st in the country. With a commitment of $1.5 million from the state, HCD includes representatives of 30 Delaware organizations addressing health issues and will begin providing technical assistance and grants for community-based projects by early 2020.