Community Hubs

• Community hubs cluster a range of organizations and institutions serving the community in a shared and accessible space.

  • In general, community hubs are open to the wider community and provide multiple activities and services that address health and the wider social determinants of health (e.g., employment, childcare, housing, and other social services). You can find community hubs housed in schools, recreation centers, public spaces or even online. i, ii

  • These spaces reflect the residents they serve and are shaped by their needs, so no two will be the same.

• There is moderate evidence that community hubs promote social cohesion through the mixing of different social or age/ generational groups, increase social capital and build trust between people in communities, increase wider social networks and interaction between community members, and increase individual’s knowledge or skills. iii

The Canadian-based SPACE coalition released a How To Hub a toolkit for community hub development. Learn more here.

Citations

i Clayton, S., Manning, C. M., Speiser, M., & Hill, A. N. (2021). Mental Health and Our Changing Climate: Impacts, Inequities, Responses. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, and ecoAmerica. https://ecoamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/mental-health-climate-change-2021-ea-apa.pdf

ii Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (2020) What is a Community Hub? https://settlement.org/ontario/health/community-and-public-health/public-and-community-health/what-is-a-community-hub/

iii Anne-Marie Bagnall, et al. (2018) Places, Spaces, People and Wellbeing: Full Review. https://whatworkswellbeing.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Places-spaces-people-wellbeing-full-report-MAY2018-1_0119755600.pdf