What is Celebrating Healthy West Virginia?
Celebrating Healthy West Virginia is a statewide platform for recognizing, sharing, and expanding the inspiring work happening to improve health in communities across WV.
The West Virginia Department of Health Division of Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention (HPCD) launched Celebrating Healthy West Virginia (CHWV) in 2019 to recognize and celebrate health wins in communities across the state. Despite West Virginia’s poor national rankings, we know that progress is being made in communities all across the state. CHWV exists to lift up stories, recognize the organizations and communities leading the way, and share wins.
The Recognition Program
In our vibrant state, there are many organizations and workplaces that shine as beacons of inspiration, embodying the values and spirit that make West Virginia flourish.
CHWV is dedicated to honoring those outstanding stewards of health and well-being who empower themselves and others in their community to live and thrive in the spaces around them. We invite you to use this space to nominate an organization, program, or workplace that you have seen making strides toward increased livability in the Mountain State.
We encourage you to tell your stories and share how you, your friends, family, and the community are excelling in creating a healthier and happier West Virginia!
Community Evaluation Tool
City and county leaders across West Virginia are working to make their communities more attractive to people and businesses. CHWV's Community Benchmark evaluation framework can help.
From the start, CHWV has focused on helping communities become great places to live, work, learn, eat, and play.
Community leaders use the framework to identify and measure opportunities for increasing community health to improve our citizen’s lives, attract a healthier workforce, and contribute to building more attractive and resilient communities.
Celebrating Healthy West Virginia's Partners
WV Division of Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention
The Division of Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention (HPCD) takes a comprehensive approach to chronic disease management and prevention, working with communities, health systems, and decision-makers to make it easier for people to be healthy in the places they live, work, play, and pray.
The mission of HPCD is to create intentional change to improve health for all West Virginians by:
- Facilitating a collaboration of diverse partners through community engagement to reduce the burden of chronic disease in WV
- Identifying and challenging social inequities by addressing social determinants of health
- Increasing the capacity of communities to create sustainable and equitable policy, systems, and environmental changes to improve health and wellness across all stages of life
WV State Office of Rural Health
The WV State Office of Rural Health implements programs and promotes best-practices models through collaboration with stakeholders to address rural healthcare. The State Office of Rural Health pursues a vision of equitable access to healthcare services and improved outcomes for citizens.
WVU Office of Health Services Research
West Virginia University’s Office of Health Services Research (WVU OHSR), part of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, has a long-term history of working with state, regional, and national partners on chronic disease prevention and control, cancer prevention and control, health informatics, and quality of care improvement efforts. WVU OHSR has a forty-three-year history of involvement in health-related research activities. We support quality improvement efforts that empower individuals who serve the underserved by helping our partners make better use of their data and technology to inform practice, programs, and policy through hands-on, applied teaching.
The West Virginia Prevention Research Center
The West Virginia Prevention Research Center (WVPRC) is part of a National Network of Prevention Research Centers funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The WVPRC strives to be a transformative force by conducting innovative community-engaged research and evaluation and by translating these into practical and sustainable solutions to improve health in WV and beyond.
We work closely with a long-standing statewide Community Partnership Board to ensure that our research, collaboration, and evaluation activities address the top health priorities and disparities of our state and its communities. The WVPRC has three primary focus areas: substance use and abuse, state health initiatives, and youth and community engagement.
Active Southern West Virginia
Active Southern West Virginia is a dynamic nonprofit organization committed to promoting healthier communities in West Virginia through physical activity and wellness programs. Their inclusive approach ensures that individuals of all backgrounds have access to opportunities that encourage an active lifestyle. With a focus on expanding programming and outreach, Active SWV has successfully extended its impact into communities across the Mountain State. Through initiatives like Workplace Wellness, Community Captains, Kids Run Clubs, and Active Places the organization empowers individuals to champion healthier communities, fostering collaborations with local chambers of commerce, economic development organizations, and healthcare providers to broaden access to resources for all workplaces in the state.
Active Southern West Virginia stands as a vital force, inspiring positive change and promoting a culture of health and physical activity that resonates throughout Appalachian communities, schools, and workplaces.
Try This West Virginia
Try This aims to help knock West Virginia off the top of the worst health lists, community by community, by building a statewide grassroots network of healthy-community leaders who expand opportunities for physical activity and/or healthy food in their communities. Through minigrants projects made of local teams building leadership and project management skills, Try This plants seeds of change to grow a healthier future for all West Virginians.