The Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department is putting community health planning right in the laps of area officials and health advocates who are looking for a new approach in developing policies.

The Health Department is offering a workshop “Integrating Health into Community Decision-Making” in collaboration with the Kansas Health Institute and the Oregon Public Health Institute.

The workshop will be from 8:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. June 10 at Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. There is no cost and lunch is provided.

Local planning and policy decisions are integral to improving health outcomes, the Health Department said Wednesday in a press release. The goal of the workshop is to teach attendees about emerging approaches to community decision-making that bridge health and non-health sectors to improve the quality of life for residents in Douglas County and surrounding areas.

Steve White, project manager of the Oregon Public Health Institute, will be leading the workshop. “The way we plan and build our communities impacts our health,” he said in the press release. “By partnering with the Health Department and hosting this workshop, the City of Lawrence is joining cities across the country in leading efforts to help ensure that municipal plans and policies are designed with the health of their residents in mind.”

There will be three sessions, and attendees can go to one or all three. They are:

• 8:15-9 a.m. — Introduction to “Health in All Policies” strategies

• 9:15-11:30 a.m. — Applying “Health in All Policies” to planning and community decision-making

• 11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. — Lunch

• 12:30-3:30 p.m. — Connecting Safe Routes to School to health

The workshop is geared toward city and county officials, government managers and administrators, school board members and administrators, Safe Routes to School team members, appointed officials serving on committees such as the Traffic Safety Commission, and professionals in planning and development, law enforcement, civil engineering, health care and philanthropy.

Click here to register. For more information, contact Community Health Planner Charlie Bryan at cbryan@ldchealth.org or 785-856-7357.