County officials, health organizations and stakeholders invested in the wellness of Fort Bend County residents have developed an improvement plan to address the five public health priorities identified in the 2022 Community Health Assessment.

The big picture: The CHA names mental health, housing, obesity, heart disease and prenatal care as the overarching health issues for the county—based on data collected from local health authorities and a community survey with 800 responses.

The Community Health Improvement Plan, or CHIP, includes objectives and strategies to improve health outcomes based on each of the county’s health goals.

Within this plan, the health and human services department identifies which entity will take a lead role in the objective and outlines specific targets for each goal.

Tackling mental health

The county’s first goal is to improve mental health by increasing access to health services and providing education. Fort Bend County has created a Mental Health Task Force to tackle this goal, following two objectives.

According to CHA data, there are 1,210 residents per mental health professional. By 2026, Fort Bend County aims to increase the number of providers to 985 residents per mental health professional.Strategies for this include:

• Advocating for and supporting legislation for mental health workforce investment, such as student loan forgiveness, salary increases and insurance reimbursement for other professionals providing services
• Increasing salaries for mental health professionals
• Increasing quality student placement and internship opportunities
• Expanding the use of Peer Support Specialists

By 2025, the county also plans to decrease the number of poor mental health days per month reported by adults—which is currently 3.6 days per month. Strategies for this objective are to:

• Increase the use of telehealth to improve access to health services
• Increase mental health education within the community—particularly at places like churches, community centers and schools
• Increase opportunities to provide education about mental health and stigma to children and adolescents
• Increase number of support groups for family and friends of people living with mental health issues
• Improve system collaboration through sharing resources and networking
• Provide perception and early intervention services and opportunities by training, educating teachers and parents, increasing mental health services in schools, and offering mental health first aid courses

Increasing housing opportunities

By 2026, the county judge’s office will attempt to reduce the proportion of households that spend more than 30% of income on housing from 26.5% to 25.5% of the population.

Additionally, the county seeks to decrease the percentage of renters who are housing cost burdened—which is currently 44.2%.The county judge’s office could partner with elected officials, faith-based organizations and institutions of higher education to complete these goals.

Strategies to accomplish these objectives are to:

• Identify a community member or organization to lead affordable housing efforts in Fort Bend County
• Establish an affordable housing coalition that creates and strengthens partnerships, particularly with local government, in order to:
  • Support the construction and preservation of affordable rental and ownership housing through land use/zoning policy, direct subsidies, financing and technical assistance
  • Increase awareness of fair housing issues and vigorously enforce fair housing laws, including regular and rigorous testing
  • Consider affordable housing needs and goals when planning for major capital investment in new or redeveloping existing major community facilities
  • Expand housing for special populations by setting aside units in new developments
• Provide education—including financial literacy, tenant’s rights and subsidized housing information
• Expand the number and use of Tenant-Based Housing Vouchers throughout the county
• Advocate and support policy to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour and create living wage jobs

Addressing obesity

The department of health and human services is leading the task of decreasing the rate of adult obesity in Fort Bend County to below its baseline of 30%. They also have goals to reduce the proportion of adults who do no physical activity in their free time from 26% to 23.9% by 2026.Potential partners and resources include local grocery stores, food pantries; federally qualified health clinics; community centers; community gardens and nonprofit agencies.

Strategies for these objectives include:

• Increasing awareness about healthy eating and physical activity in the community through events such as nutrition classes; grocery store tours; and partnering with community centers and churches
• Increasing the number of health centers/clinics who make food and fitness prescriptions
• Increasing opportunities for the community to be active by offering regular and consistent family events and after-school activities
• Partnering with Fort Bend County Parks and Recreation Department to offer outdoor events and programs
• Starting early by encouraging and supporting children and adolescents to participate in daily school physical education and sports as well as healthy eating

Improving cardiovascular health

By 2026, the county aims to reduce the number of heart disease deaths from 111.7 per 100,000 residents. Officials also plan to increase the proportion of adults who eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day, which is currently 19.3% of the population.The health and human services department will collaborate with primary care providers, cardiologists and other stakeholders by implementing the same strategies they will use to address obesity, along with the following:

• Increase awareness about healthy eating and physical activity through community events
• Provide education about how to access healthcare in the community
• Provide education about the symptoms of and how to respond to a stroke
• Increase the availability of behavioral counseling to promote a healthy lifestyle in adults without cardiovascular risk factors
• Provide early exposure to children about healthy foods via nutrition education in schools and summer programs
• Increase access to food banks, pantry locations and food delivery resources—especially to areas identified as food deserts
• Increase the number and use of community gardens

Providing prenatal careTo prevent pregnancy complications and maternal deaths, as well as improve women’s health before, during, and after pregnancy—the health and human services department plans to increase the proportion of pregnant women who receive early prenatal care from 60.7% to 70.6%.

The county will work with doulas, midwives, OBGYNs, hospitals and other health care systems by implementing these strategies:

• Increase the number of locations of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children program
• Increase awareness in the community about the importance of taking steps to improve health before becoming pregnant, and steps to take to improve the likelihood of having a healthy pregnancy
• Provide training to medical professionals about different pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum care cultural practices
• Increase awareness about the benefits of doulas and midwives
• Improve collaboration and service coordination between doulas, midwives and physicians
• Advocate for Medicaid expansion, increased eligibility during and following a pregnancy, and coverage for doula services.

The CHIP acknowledges that there are several factors that may impact these preferred health outcomes, such as cultural norms and values; income; transportation; food security; workplace and school policies and general knowledge of resources.

To learn more about the improvement plan and its objectives, visit the Fort Bend County Community Health Assessment webpage.