Livewell Colorado
Livewell Colorado HEAL Cities Map

It's Been a Busy Fall for HEAL Cities & Towns

Since our last update in September, four municipalities have passed resolutions and are now officially a part of the HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign. Congratulations to Colorado Springs, Edgewater, Englewood and Pueblo! They join: Arvada, Aurora, Bennett, Brush, Buena Vista, Commerce City, Cortez, Denver, Durango, Frederick, Golden, Lafayette, La Junta, Lakewood, Lamar, Leadville, Littleton, Lone Tree, Manitou Springs, Milliken, New Castle, Northglenn, Oak Creek, Salida, Sheridan, Steamboat Springs, Thornton, Walsenburg, Wheat Ridge and Yuma bringing the total number of Campaign members to 34 municipalities. Click here to follow the progress and learn more about the HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign.

 

In October, more than 120 municipal representatives, elected officials, public health advocates and nonprofit leaders convened for the second annual HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign Summit in Golden, Colo. Summit attendees participated in interactive sessions covering resident engagement, healthy vending in public buildings, complete streets, healthy workplaces and updating comprehensive plans to lay a workable foundation that includes healthy living as an underlying principle. After a full first day of networking and workshops, representatives with the City of Golden, a Campaign member since April 2014, led a guided walk highlighting comprehensive plan projects that have improved walking and biking in the community.

 

One of the many benefits the Campaign offers is free technical assistance to help advance your policy goals. Campaign staff provide help with drafting and reviewing policies in the areas of active community, healthy food access and worksite wellness, as well as assistance with networking and sharing resources. To utilize the free technical assistance or report policy advancements, please contact Julie George at juliegeorge@livewellcolorado.org or 720-353-4120.

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Case Study: Arvada, Colo.

Livewell Colorado

The City of Arvada has discovered a way to support food production on public lands. After piloting a program on a small, 15 acre lot, Arvada and JeffCo Open Space have identified additional lands that can be farmed and have even issued an RFP to farm open space at a nearby nature center. Read more in our case study online.

Stairwell Signs: An Easy Way to Encourage Physical Activity

Stairwell signs

Take the stairs! Did you know that when you do, you burn an average of 10 calories a minute? That's a lot more than you burn standing in an elevator.

As a member of the HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign, you are eligible to receive 6 stair signs after you complete a healthy workplace assessment. These can be used to encourage municipal employees to make taking the stairs part of their daily routine. Several messages are availble and the signs can be customized with your municipality's logo.

For more information or to order your signs, contact Julie George at juliegeorge@livewellcolorado.org or 720-353-4120.

Resources

HEAL Summit Logo

Presentation decks from the October 2014 HEAL Cities & Towns Summit are now available online on the LiveWell Colorado website. Topics include a wide range of subjects such as active transportation, complete streets, healthy workplaces, healthy vending, community engagement and effective outreach. Additionally, the presentations all include concrete examples of successful policies and policy implementation.

Funding Opportunities

Livewell Colorado

Colorado Fresh Food Financing Fund
The Colorado Fresh Food Financing Fund (CO4F) works to improve access to healthy food in underserved Colorado communities by financing grocery stores and other forms of healthy food retail. Loans of up to $1.5M and some grant funding are available to develop new grocery stores, maintain and improve existing stores and support innovative fresh food business concepts.

Is there a project in your community that might benefit from funding from CO4F? For general inquiries, application help, ​eligibility and technical questions, contact Erica Heller at CO4F@pumaworldhq.com or 303-628-5592.

Trainings

Livewell Colorado

CML Lunch & Learn: The Financial Benefit of Community Engagement
On January 27 from 12:00-2:00, CML is hosting a presentation highlighting the how the Town of Milliken secured over $300,000 in grants from Great Outdoors Colorado to renovate the Hillsboro Skate Park. Attend to learn about the best practices in engaging the community to secure additional resources for larger projects and about outside resources available to support municipally led economic development projects. Great ideas will be shared; some may be ideal for your community! Click here for more information and to register.

 

In This Issue

Case Study: Arvada, Colo.

Stairwell Signs: An Easy Change to Encourage Physical Activity

Resources

Funding Opportunities

Trainings
 

Advisory Committee

The eight-member Advisory Committee provides valuable leadership, feedback and guidance to the Campaign. The Committee lends the Campaign the municipal insider’s view and champions the role of municipalities in promoting HEAL.

  • Charles Bayley*
    
Mayor Pro Tem, Bennett, Colo.
  • Mike Braaten

    Deputy City Manager, Littleton, Colo.
  • Rene Bullock

    Mayor Pro Tem, Commerce City, Colo.
  • Shane Hale

    City Manager, Cortez, Colo.
  • Nikki Knoebel

    Mayor, Oak Creek, Colo.
  • Jan Martin*
    
Mayor Pro Tem, Colorado Springs, Colo.
  • Vicky Quinlin

    Council Member, Brush, Colo.
  • Heidi Williams

    Mayor, Thornton, Colo.

*Colorado Municipal League executive board member

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The HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign
 provides training and technical assistance to help municipal officials adopt
 policies that improve their communities’ access to healthy eating and active living (HEAL). Making the healthy choice the easy choice is
 essential to addressing Colorado’s adult and childhood obesity epidemic,
 a clear toll on both our health and economy.
 The state spent $1.637 billion treating diseases and conditions related to
 obesity in 2009, with further costs to businesses for lost productivity
 and absenteeism.

A partnership between LiveWell Colorado and the Colorado Municipal League,
 the Campaign is funded through a grant from the
 Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Cancer,
 Cardiovascular Disease and Pulmonary Disease Grant Program
and supported by Kaiser Permanente.

Contact Julie George, HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign Director,

at juliegeorge@livewellcolorado.org or 720.353.4120 x217
.

Visit LiveWellColorado.org/HEALCampaign for more details.

 
LiveWellColorado.org