RESUMO
The population impoverishment is a social reality whose overcoming is necessary so that we can think about health as a positive concept. This study proposes a reflection on the coping strategies adopted by the Conjunto Palmeira, a Brazilian community in the Northeast, and their interface with health promotion. This community's reality is an example of overcoming social exclusion for different regions of Brazil and other countries. The history of the Conjunto and the collective strategies of empowerment for coping with poverty and search for human development are initially presented. After that, we establish the relationship of those strategies with the action fields for health promotion. Finally, we consider that the mutual responsibility of the community with its health and its relationship with the environment in which they live are means of promoting transformation towards the conquest of a worthy social space.