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All policies—even those that don’t directly deal with health—have the ability to enhance or hinder your community’s health and well-being. As a local government, it’s easy to think of health as being outside your mandate, strictly speaking. However, policies made by local governments in the areas of transportation, land use and community planning, housing, and more affect the social determinants of health, a spectrum of factors such as physical environments, social support networks, and healthy child development. This means that, with each policy decision a local government makes, they either enhance or deteriorate the health of their citizens. It’s a huge responsibility, and for local governments, its fundamental importance in the lives of community members means it’s one that simply can’t be ignored.