The Massachusetts Partnership for Healthy Communities held its Fourth Annual Healthy Communities and  Healthy People 2020 Conference at the Hoagland Pincus Conference Center in Shrewsbury, MA, on June 7, 2010. Keynote speakers included Shani Dowd, Director of Culture InSight for the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation, and Tyler Norris, Senior Advisor to Kaiser Permanente. The Forum brought teams from Acton, Avon, Chelmsford, Lincoln, New Bedford & Fall River, Taunton and Uxbridge for graduation ceremony and to receive their certificates at the end of the event. The Fall River Mass In Motion project was also selected to receive a 2010 Healthy Communities Principles Award for "Focusing on Systems Change". A Healthy Community Market Place also featured exhibits from healthy community efforts from across the state who shared their best practices, stories and accomplishments from the previous year. Click here for Part I of two   videos of Tyler's address and here for Part II. Click here for photos of last year's conference. For more information about the Forum, contact Peter Lee at 617-279-2269. (Photos courtesy of Jim Rattray and Ron O'Connor)

(Top row, left) Mass Partnership director Peter Lee welcomes over 160 participants to the day-long conference. (Top row, center) Mass Forum participants Pat Bebo, Marcia Picard, Donna Querim, Amanda Szot, Kerry Mello and Jim Rattray get together at the start of the conference. (Top row, right) A display of Healthy City Fall River activities was one of two dozen displays at the Healthy Community Market Place. (Middle row, left) Peter Lee leads a discussion on building sustainable partnerships with Al Bashevkin of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, David Weed of Healthy City Fall River, and Kitty Bowman of the Revere CARES project. (Middle row, center) Shani Dowd, Director of Culture InSight for the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine talks about cultural factors in understanding the determinants of health and health equity. (Middle row, right) Southeast Center for Healthy Communities Community Health Specialist Allyson Scherb and New Bedford Mass In Motion Project Coordinator Pauline Hamel talk about strategies and tools for engaging community members for the Healthy People 2020 Project. (Bottom row, left) Keynote speaker Tyler Norris describes the healthy communities movement that is taking place across America. (Bottom row, center) Healthy City Fall River Coordinator David Weed accepts the Healthy Communities Principles Award on behalf of Julie Kelly, Coordinator of the Fall River Mass In Motion project. (Bottom row, right) Mass Forum participants Pat Bebo, Judith Coykendall, Nancy Bonell, Jim Rattray, Marcia Picard, Amanda Szot, Kerry Mello, Donna Querim, and Pauline Hamel pose after receiving their certificates for participating in the 2009-2010 Forum.