“Our goal was to keep Davis healthy. And we did.

“We reduced the number of COVID-19 cases. Decreased hospitalizations. Saved lives.”

— from Healthy UC Davis Together’s video docuseries, Davis, CA vs. COVID-19

The International Town Gown Association this week presented its Presidential Excellence Award to Healthy Davis Together, the UC Davis-city of Davis initiative that fought the pandemic without regard to campus-city boundaries.

“Healthy Davis Together demonstrates the value that universities like UC Davis bring to their communities, and how when the city and university partner together, they can make a positive difference in the lives of their citizens,” Chancellor Gary S. May said in a Healthy Davis Together news release.

The International Town Gown Association presents its Presidential Leadership Award to one or two town-gown communities each year in recognition of exceptional performance in leadership, educational achievement or volunteer service. The presentation took place Wednesday (June 8) at the association’s conference in Clemson, South Carolina, where Mayor Gloria Partida accepted the award on behalf of the city, UC Davis and the Healthy Davis Together.

“Healthy Davis Together is a testament to what cities and universities can do together in terms of pooling resources and working toward a common goal,” Partida said in the Healthy Davis Together news release. “Thank you to Chancellor May, the entire Healthy Davis Together team and our city staff. We hope this will be a model for collaboration for other universities and towns.”

Last year the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities recognized UC Davis for its COVID-19 prevention efforts, presenting the university with an APLU Research Response to a Community in Crisis Award. And the city received a Beacon Leadership and Innovation Award from the Institute for Local Government for cross-agency collaboration on Healthy Davis Together.

Bold goal

Healthy Davis Together started in September 2020 with the bold goal of preventing the spread of COVID-19 and facilitating the coordinated and gradual return to city activities and the reintegration of UC Davis students back into school and community life.

While the testing program will conclude June 30, the initiative will continue COVID-19 surveillance through wastewater monitoring while also sharing valuable pandemic response information with other university towns, leaders and others.

Since its inception 21 months ago, HDT has many collective achievements to report, including:

• Conducting more than 800,000 COVID-19 tests
• Administering 16,000 COVID-19 vaccines
• Collecting more than 10,000 air filter and wastewater samples
• Supporting more than 50 K–12 schools in Yolo County with testing and education materials
• Providing free testing, grants, and other resources to keep over 400 Davis businesses open
• Forging strong, lasting bonds within our community

‘Like few others’

Brad Pollock, chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences at the UC Davis School of Medicine and project director of Healthy Davis Together, said the city of Davis, Yolo County, the campus and community members rallied together to reduce the spread of COVID-19 like few other university towns.

“The success of the program was possible because of the remarkable and resilient people who came together to support our community and one another,” he said in the Healthy Davis Together news release.

The International Town Gown Association, a global nonprofit organization supports college campus and community interests by providing a network of professionals and resources and identifying and sharing promising practices, innovative solutions and professional development opportunities for municipal and university communities.