Publications

OHCC produces a number of educational publications to assist community groups and coalitions in their efforts to improve the well-being of their communities. Many of our resources have been updated recently, reflecting changes in conditions and trends within Ontario and, in some respects, nationally and globally.

Some of our resource materials are provided free of charge, and for others we charge only a nominal fee to help recover our printing costs. Most of the resources are available on-line, free of charge, in either PDF or HTML format.

To order

To order our publications please fill out our publication order form.

• Monthly eBulletin

• Healthy Communities Newsletter

• Healthy Community Fact Sheets

Manuals and Toolkits

• Our Communities, Our Health, Our Future : Understanding and Changing the Built Environment

• From the Ground Up: An Organizing Handbook for Healthy Communities

• Healthy Food, Healthy Community: A Community Action Guide

• Strategies for Effective Proposal Writing

• Inclusive Community Organizations: A Tool Kit

• Communities and Local Government Working Together: A Resource Manual of Strategies

• Healthy Environment, Healthy Community Tool Kit

• Pathways to a Healthy Community

• Signs of Progress, Signs of Caution: How to Prepare a Healthy, Sustainable Community Progress Report Card

Online Courses

Collaboration and Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Collaboration is a value and activity in which most health promoters and community activists now participate.  This course is designed to help you, the practitioner, engage in and support the work of collaboration more effectively.

We hope this course will assist you in become a successful collaborator if you are considering the development of a new collaboration or have been a member of one for many years.

Community Development Strategies

This course is designed to outline the basic values, principles and methods of community development and how they may be applied within a community setting. Specific community development applications and methods, such as community asset mapping, will be explored.  The course includes readings, exercises, case studies and resource for further information. 

Upon completion of the course, participants will have gained knowledge and skills in the following areas:

• Community development values, concepts and practice, and how it differs from community outreach and community-based programs
• Community asset mapping
• Aligning health services with community priorities and values
• Success factors in community partnerships and collaborations

On-Line Proposal Writing Course
(Collaborative project of OHCC and THCU)

The Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition (OHCC) and The Health Communication    Unit (THCU) have collaborated on the development of an on-line proposal writing course which has been designed as a stand-alone, self-directed program, accessible to all. The purpose of this online course is to help not for profit organizations plan and prepare winning proposals. It has six modules, one for each step in the proposal development process.

Health Promotion 101

    The Ontario Health Promotion Resource System (OHPRS) developed this free course,    "Health Promotion 101," as a collaborative effort between our 22 member organizations with funding from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.  This course will help people familiarize themselves with essential health promotion concepts and, in so doing, will help raise the profile of health promotion in Ontario.

Videos

• Cause and Effluent Video

The prevailing approach to waste management in North America is dump and flush. But as cities run out of capacity in their own dumps and sewage treatment plants, rural communities confront ever-expanding landfills, manure from factory farms, and urban sewage sludge spread on farm fields. The result: rural land, water and air are increasingly at risk.

Cause & Effluent, an educational video produced by OHCC and writer/director Michael Riordon, presents seven ecological technologies and strategies treat waste as a resource rather than a burden. All are currently in operation and the technologies are available for rural municipalities, farms and households. Click here for a description of systems featured in the video.

The video is available for home viewing from the OHCC office for $24.95 or, for OHCC members, $15.00, plus $2.00 for postage.

To order a video for public viewing, please contact McNabb and Connelly Distributors, 60 Briarwood Avenue, Mississauga ON L5G 3N6; tel: (905) 278-0566, fax (905) 278-2801.

•  Addressing Air Quality in Schools: Children Breathe Easy Video Now Available

Children Breathe Easy is a 22 minute video production about the steps that were taken to improve the indoor air quality at Blake Street and EAST Alternative Schools in downtown Toronto. It presents an overview of what was a cooperative effort between parents, the school trustee, school staff, union health and safety reps, and local community groups including the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition, the South Riverdale Community Health Centre and the Indoor Air Quality Work Group.

The video is designed to assist other communities in creating healthier and safer learning and work environments for both children and staff. It is available from the Central Office in both DVD and VHS formats and includes a brief resource guide inside the jacket cover. The cost is $10 (plus $2 shipping and handling).