Over the past three months, many of you participated in phone calls with LiveWell staff helping us update our HEAL Cities & Towns records. It’s amazing the amount of policy and planning work municipalities are doing, not to mention the implementation of these policies and resulting investments in infrastructure - all of which increase access to healthy eating and active living (HEAL) in your communities. As of May, member cities and towns have adopted more than 69 new HEAL policies or made investments in infrastructure to increase access to HEAL! This is truly great work that is making a difference in shifting the paradigm and re-engineering activity and healthy eating back into our lives. In addition, there are equally as many policies, plans and investments that are in the works and will be completed in the coming months. Congratulations to you all and please remember to notify Julie George of your successes along the way.

Through our partnership with the Colorado Municipal League (CML), the HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign enjoyed great visibility and networking at the 93rd CML Annual Conference in June in Breckenridge, CO. The Campaign helped kick off the three-day event with a pre-conference walk during which we not only enjoyed the great mountain air and exercise, but also demonstrated some key ways to bring HEAL to your community. Nearly 20 people joined LiveWell staff and members of the HEAL Cities & Towns Advisory Committee to learn first-hand about walking meetings, way finding (signage), the use of trails and alleys for connectivity, safe crossings for bicyclists and pedestrians and the tie between active living and economic development. A big shout out to the following municipalities for participating in the walk:  Florence, Brush, Cripple Creek, Bennett, Otis, Westminster, Central City, Evans, Littleton, Thornton and Manitou Springs.

The Campaign also hosted a workshop titled “Community Engagement: Maximize Access to Healthy Living.” The early morning session was attended by more than 30 people who learned about the success Colorado Springs and Milliken have enjoyed by reaching out to their residents and business community. Brian Kates, Colorado Springs Parks Operations Administrator, shared some of the approaches Colorado Springs has used to involve residents in increasing access to HEAL. One example is how the city brought together several informal bicycling and walking groups to form the Active Transportation Advisory Committee (ATAC). Recognizing that several small, grassroots groups were interested in working with the city to improve access to walking and biking, the city took it upon itself to form the ATAC. As a formalized committee of the city, the group meets with staff to discuss needs, concerns, and issues surrounding active transportation and reports directly to the city council. By connecting previously siloed groups through this process, a broader, deeper connection in the area of social and health equity has been established. It brings to light some negative factors that contibute to undesirable outcomes that disproportionately impact low-income residents including obesity, asthma and poor access to recreation and healthy food options. Just one of many great examples of how to seek out the voice of the public to ensure that tax dollars are being used to their highest value.

Anne Johnson, Tetra Tech Senior Planner and former Community and Economic Development Director for the Town of Milliken, shared the great work she and the Parks Director led in Milliken to utilize youth in the planning of the town’s skate park. Working together with the school district, the youth leadership team helped pick the firm to build the park, and then worked with the firm to design the park to meet its fullest potential. What better way to design and build a skate park than involving the kids who will use the park as part of the planning team!  The skate park is a great amenity for the town, is heavily used by the kids and has even led to increased business for a nearby restaurant and corner store.

This spring, Northglenn and Lakewood have worked with our food access technical assistance provider, Wendy Peters Moschetti, to complete food access assessments in their communities. In her new role as Director of Food Systems at LiveWell Colorado, Wendy will continue work with these communities to finish each report of primary results, key findings, and recommendations. Both cities conducted resident surveys, focus groups, key informant interviews and a developed a series of maps to analyze the food environment and socioeconomics. Lakewood gathered 440 resident surveys and Northglenn completed 90 at their 4th of July event alone and will close the survey in mid-July. We will make all tools and maps from these assessments available to Campaign participants interested in learning more about the food assessment process in the coming months. If you are interested in learning more about these food assessments or have other food access questions, please contact Wendy at wendymoschetti@livewellcolorado.org.

In partnership with Safe Routes to School practitioners in rural communities around the country, we’ve developed three new factsheets to help overcome obstacles and get rural dwellers the health benefits of walking and bicycling:

The first provides an introduction to Safe Routes to School, highlighting why Safe Routes to School is so good for rural communities (Rural Communities: Making Safe Routes Work). 

The second delves into the challenges of Safe Routes to School in rural areas, and highlights successful rural programs and the innovative approaches they’ve used to overcome hurdles (Rural Communities: Best Practices and Promising Approaches for Safe Routes). 

The third takes on rural active transportation generally, setting out an approach for how rural communities can support walking and bicycling more broadly (Rural Communities: A Two Pronged Approach for Improving Walking and Bicycling).

The Active Cities Report includes practical guidance, sample metrics and inspirational examples - as well as a summary of the evidence that proves an active city is a competitive city. Click here to download the guide.

Voices for Healthy Kids, a joint initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and American Heart Association, has released a series of free action-oriented toolkits that may be useful in your community.  The links below include detailed toolkits and customizable fact-sheets, posters, print ads, social media tips and more:

Complete Streets Toolkit

Competitive Foods Toolkit

Healthy Food Financing Toolkit

Healthy Food Financing Corner Stores Toolkit

Shared Use Liability Toolkit

Shared Use Expansion Toolkit

Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Toolkit

SRTS Federal Appropriations Toolkit

SRTS State Appropriations Toolkit

 

Thursday, July 23
11:00 a.m. MST

Please join HEAL Cities Campaigns of LiveWell Colorado, the Mid-Atlantic, the Northwest and California in exploring the topic of Community Engagement and its unique role in cities.

Seeking out and listening to community voices is an important aspect of planning for a healthy future. Providing opportunities for the community to contribute their time and talent to implementing healthy plans, policies and programs is critical to success. The small cities of Milliken, CO and others have used community engagement strategies to create healthy environments for their residents. The active involvement of community members assured timely completion of important projects, and ensured that infrastructure investments met the needs of the city and residents alike.

This webinar will cover:
1. Success stories rural, small cities
2. Tips for engaging residents in planning
3. Benefits of engaging residents in project implementation

Click here to register!