Loneliness can hurt our health, and research shows that social connections improve health outcomes for older adults, especially for those that feel isolated. This is why the Highrise Health Alliance, launched in 2020 by the Minneapolis Health Department (MHD) and Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA), is focused on improving behavioral health for older adults. Given that the population in Minneapolis high-rise buildings have more than 85% elderly and/or residents with disabilities, it was time to start building healthier futures with these residents.

But addressing social isolation and loneliness for this demographic can be challenging. Many of the residents have low incomes, limited mobility and limited access to community resources like transportation, which can impact their mental health. That’s why the Public Health Regenerative Leadership Synergy (PHEARLESS) program has been instrumental for Minneapolis. The program is bringing sustainable solutions to communities and transforming systems, starting with bringing a Minneapolis high-rise community together.

“I am passionate about working with this community because they are underserved community members with various challenges,” says Abdulkadir G. Mohamed, a public health specialist at MHD. “Some of these individuals are struggling with mental health, substance use disorders, isolation, mobility and chronic conditions. As leaders, we must uplift those who need us most so that we can all live and thrive as a community.”

Innovative and progressive ideas are critical in helping to serve residents who need the most help, so leadership and growth become key for public health departments to build healthier futures for everyone. PHEARLESS, a 12-month leadership program, integrates regenerative leadership education helping public health and community leaders build the skills they need for sustainable solutions that advance both health equity and well-being for all.

A partnership of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, de Beaumont Foundation and Kresge, PHEARLESS funds two public health leaders and two community leaders that work together to serve their communities through leadership training and financial support. The experience gives participants the skills to transform systems, structures and policies, in partnership with their community.

“Our main goal is to build a culture of health by addressing social isolation and disconnectedness among older adults in public housing and support resident-generated ideas for social connection to improve mental health,” said Jennie Meinz, manager of the MHD Healthy Living Initiative.

Sessions for leadership growth include topics like inclusive negotiation, where participants learned about the context, channels and guiding principles of diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as how to leverage negotiation skills to achieve inclusive outcomes. A key session for this group was “The Leader as a Facilitator,” where they learned how to lead with others by learning collaborative leadership concepts, designing and conducting group interactions. These were the facilitation skills the group used to host engagement sessions with high-rise residents that identified their top health priorities.

Building a culture of health

In Minneapolis, MPHA Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives Rachel Almburg, and MPHA resident leader Shirley Brown, who serves as her building president in addition to serving on several committees of the Minneapolis Highrise Representative Council (MHRC), were selected alongside MHD staff and Highrise Health Alliance members Meinz and Mohamed to participate in the PHEARLESS leadership initiative.

This group hosted listening sessions and workshops to identify the health priorities of MPHA residents. At the top of that list was improving communication around mental health between residents, building management and on-site social service staff. Additionally, residents expressed wanting additional support for new resident move-ins, especially for those coming out of homelessness and/or housing programs that offered supplemental mental health services.

“PHEARLESS and the recent work of the Highrise Health Alliance has had an amazing domino effect within the community,” says Almburg. “We have seen residents work together to intentionally create community and connections with this mini-grant initiative. Seeing residents in high-rise buildings take action and plan events has led to other residents initiating action in their building. Community involvement and excitement can be infectious, and that’s exactly what we are seeing in Minneapolis.”

A portion of the funding is dedicated to supporting social connection events to aid community building and improve mental health. Designed as a mini-grant process, it allows residents to generate event ideas and receive funds to carry out the idea. Events may include sponsoring a variety of things from an educational speaker visit or yoga class to bingo or a social outing as a group.

“This is an example of all the entities working together to make the quality of life better for people living in our buildings,” Brown says. “What we have here in Minneapolis is unique, when I share the work of the tenant organization at national conferences, people want to emulate us. We have all these different people and organizations working together to make the high-rise communities better.”