Northern Arizona Healthfields Community Partnership

a vacant and deteriorated auto service and gas station

Image of a vacant and deteriorated auto service and gas station in Holbrook, Arizona (Source: Lloyd Degrane, 2019)

Partnership: This network of Arizona individuals, agencies, and nonprofits is dedicated to creating healthy, livable spaces for at-risk communities.

Goal: To improve access to healthcare and healthy food in federal “medically underserved” areas To promote safe land reuse throughout AZ for many widespread hazardous sites

Community and population:

5 community areas of northern Arizona: cities of Flagstaff, Winslow, and Holbrook; counties of Navajo and Coconino all below state poverty level; Navajo County highest is at 38.5% below poverty level

Largest minority groups: American Indian/Alaska Native and Hispanic/Latino

Percentage of persons under 65 without health insurance:
9.7% to 17.3%

Map of Arizona showing medically underserved areas (October 2020).

graphic icon of a hand holding a plant
Environmental concerns
  • Brownfields and other types of potentially hazardous sites throughout rural and urban areas
  • Many brownfields and land reuse sites with petroleum contamination, which must be removed to reuse the sites
  • Potential for many brownfields sites to be cleaned up and reused as playlots, corner stores, and agriculture/community gardens
graphic icon of a stethoscope
Health concerns
  • Federal medically underserved areas (MUAs) in majority of state and large regional areas with medically underserved
    populations (MUPs)
Sacred land sign on a land reuse site in Northern Arizona

Sacred land sign on a land reuse site in Northern Arizona (Lloyd DeGrane, 2019).

BROWN assistance and collaboration

  • Funding options and resources related to food (food deserts, healthy food access, community food markets)
  • ATSDR soilSHOP
  • $200,000 in EPA funding awarded to Phoenix, resulting in 42 brownfield site assessments
  • $130,000 ATSDR Community Health and Land Reuse funding awarded to ADHS for health assessments and education at 42 sites
  • $95,000 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funding awarded to AHI stakeholder to expand AHI
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Page last reviewed: April 22, 2021