“Over the past five years, Danvers has not experienced dramatic shifts in the way in which it is thinking about and addressing health and well- being, but there have been notable advances in some areas.”
—RAND Corporation
RWJF Culture of Health 5-Year Community Landscape Report: Danvers, Massachusetts
Report Oct-01-2022 2-min read
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Report Publish Date: October 2022
This report summarizes Danvers, Massachusetts’ health, wellbeing, and equity journey from 2016 to 2021, as part of RWJF’s Sentinel Communities Surveillance project.
Primary Takeaways
“Danvers’ capacity to address the health and wellbeing needs of its residents is driven by local anchor institutions that provide critical funds and services to residents and organizations,” the authors write.
The city had benefited from collaboration with nearby towns, and more people and organizations working on health in Danvers were acknowledging the importance of equity. Initiatives such as Impact Essex County had started providing data on social and health indicators to inform decisions.
Overview and Objectives
Begun in 2016, RWJF’s Sentinel Communities Surveillance project tracks how a Culture of Health is developing in 29 communities across the country. The authors wanted to describe key challenges, opportunities, and insights in Danvers.
Hypothesis or Approach
The authors gathered information from phone interviews with Sentinel Community leaders; online, published, and local materials and media about the communities; and data sources including the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, County Health Rankings, and state and local data collection systems.
For this report, the authors conducted 34 hourlong, semi-structured interviews between summer 2018 and winter 2022. Interviewees came from several different types of organizations and sectors.
How This Influences Change
“Danvers’ journey to promote health and wellbeing is one that illustrates the importance of collaboration, as collaboration across Essex County has been—and will likely continue to be—an important aspect of how Danvers continues to advance health and well-being,” the authors write.
Research: Go Deeper
Though Danvers has a relatively small capacity for addressing health and wellbeing given its size, it is bolstered by large health systems in neighboring towns and collaborations with other local governments and organizations across Essex County. Although there has been some evolution in how Danvers thinks about health and health equity compared to five years ago, in general, community members tended to feel as though there is still no shared vision around health. Mental health and substance abuse have risen to the top of the list of health issues facing the community, and addressing the lack of affordable housing remains an important aspect of the town’s approach to addressing health and wellbeing. While the community has made some strides in improving walkability and geographic connectivity, there remain significant barriers in transportation infrastructure, thus perpetuating long-standing inequities. While some community members have largely centered their work around racial equity, Danvers’ ability to advance health equity has been stifled by a recent string of hateful incidents in schools and the community based on race, religion, and homophobia.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, October 2022
Research Team
This study and report was conducted and created by:
- RAND Corporation
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