Mustapha Hammoud

Healthy Dearborn is a vibrant community coalition that has partnered with the City of Dearborn since 2015 to create a culture of health in Dearborn by working to reduce health disparities through active living and healthy eating strategies. For more on Healthy Dearborn, please visit our website: https://www.healthydearborn.org/. How do you see your Mayoral administration or Dearborn’s City Council working with Healthy Dearborn? And what specific ideas do you have for implementing Healthy Dearborn initiatives? *

Public health is one of the main items on my platform, and will always be a priority for me as a member of the City Council. I appreciate the work Healthy Dearborn does in providing our local leaders and lawmakers with the resources and guidance to implement sound health policy. I plan to listen and consult on any issue your organization may need to address, and I look forward to working with you to build a healthier community. Since the City Council approves the city budget as well as passes ordinances, these powers can be used to ensure things like parks funding, support for our EMT and first responder systems, and zoning conducive to a healthier city.

What do you see as Dearborn’s biggest health challenges and Dearborn’s biggest health assets? How can we best leverage our assets to address our challenges? *

Dearborn’s biggest health challenge remains the COVID-19 pandemic. We must make sure our community is ready for the recovery as we begin re-opening. This pandemic exposed underlying issues in the way our city handles public health, and there are opportunities to apply lessons learned. We must make sure our senior citizens receive the preventative care they need to live healthy and productive lives. Our biggest health assets include Beaumont Health System’s major presence in our community, ample park-space, a great public school system, and a health-minded community. I believe our city can use public-private partnerships, fact-based policy making, and a sustainability mindset to make sure our city continues to drive toward a healthier community for everyone.

Do you believe that "Health in all Policies," which is the use of health assessment tools to guide decisions on major civic projects and policy decisions, should be implemented in Dearborn? Please explain why, either way. *

I pledge a data and fact-driven approach to all policy making, and that includes public health impact. My engineering experience has taught me that the best outcomes are achieved when you take all factors into account and implement holistic solutions. Our community must reinforce and support health by making healthy choices easy and affordable. We must foster an environment of healthy living as well. Creating healthy community environments requires clean air and water, safe housing, transportation infrastructure, and safe working conditions at local businesses. By taking a proactive approach, a sound integrated health policy can be cost-effective, reduce health care costs, and improve productivity. Factoring in health impact is not only sound policy for our community health, but fiscally responsible and a catalyst to business development.

Dearborn’s Multimodal Transportation Plan (MMTP) (https://walkbike.info/dearborn/) was developed with significant community involvement, including Healthy Dearborn, and was adopted by the Dearborn City Council on October 6, 2020. How do you see the implementation of the MMTP fitting into your community health priorities as City Council Member? *

The MMTP as passed is a great start to modernizing our infrastructure in Dearborn. I would like to see both additional greenspaces for our residents to enjoy, as well as a city plan that continues to support people who want to use healthier and more sustainable modes of transportation around our city. It is clear our residents support this kind of thinking, and if elected to the Council, I will continue to advocate for additional steps in that direction.