At the April 26 CHA Kick Off meeting, Alexandria Health Department (AHD) facilitated a community visioning session in which community members described their hopes for a healthier Alexandria. AHD used this information to draft the Vision Statement and Values below, which were approved by the CHA Steering Committee.  

The common themes that emerged from this community-led visioning activity make up the Vision Statement, which serves as the main driving force or aim of the Community Health Assessment.

The Values represent principles that arose during the community visioning. They provide context for the Vision Statement while also serving as a guide for our collective participation in the Community Health Assessment process.  

Alexandria is a safe, connected, healthy, inclusive, and supportive community. All members of the community can access the knowledge, resources, and services that they need, while actively engaging in and promoting opportunities to attain optimal physical, cultural, social, mental, and spiritual health.

• Cultural Humility
• Inclusion
• Connectedness
• Engagement
• Transparency
• Accountability
• Equity

• Cultural Humility: We commit to active and ongoing engagement with ourselves and others to cultivate awareness of our personal values and beliefs, which may come from a combination of cultures, in order to increase understanding of others. An approach of humility, rather than competence, recognizes how the intersections among ethnicity, race, age, income, education, sexual orientation, class, abilities, faith and other aspects of identity create and inform culture in a dynamic and fluid way. Cultural humility is a lifelong process meant to promote respect for all and avoid the promotion of stereotypes. 
• Inclusion: We commit to identifying, addressing, and working to eliminate barriers--in partnership with individuals and communities experiencing those barriers. 
• Connectedness: We recognize that isolation of people, communities, and individual health issues prevents us from achieving our vision.
• Engagement: We commit to modeling interest and engagement in improving the health of our communities. We will share our knowledge, engage our networks, and embody the grassroots quality of this work.
• Transparency: We expect and encourage open dialogue to promote the sharing of ideas, resources, stories, and knowledge. We will create and encourage opportunities for this dialogue. We actively solicit and incorporate feedback from individuals and communities to promote community-informed decision-making.
• Accountability: We are accountable to our peers and communities for working within our capacities to create a healthier Alexandria.
• Equity: We recognize that barriers prevent individuals and communities from accessing conditions necessary for attaining optimal health, that there are differences in access between and within communities, and that "racism is a force in determining how these social determinants are distributed"(1). We are committed to engaging in the important conversations necessary to identify and address inequities within and across our communities.
  
  
  1. American Public Health Association. Retrieved from https://www.apha.org/topics-and-issues/health-equity, June 4 2018.