Livewell Colorado
Livewell Colorado HEAL Cities Map

Welcome New HEAL Cities & Towns!

Since our last update in June, seven municipalities have passed resolutions and are now officially a part of the HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign. Congratulations to Lone Tree, New Castle, Northglenn, Sheridan, Walsenburg, Wheat Ridge and Yuma! They join: Arvada, Aurora, Bennett, Brush, Buena Vista, Commerce City, Cortez, Denver, Durango, Frederick, Golden, Lafayette, La Junta, Lakewood, Lamar, Leadville, Littleton, Manitou Springs, Milliken, Oak Creek, Salida, Steamboat Springs and Thornton, bringing the total number of Campaign members to 30 municipalities. Click here to follow the progress and learn more about the HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign.

In addition to reaching 30 municipalities throughout the state, LiveWell Colorado is excited to announce the launch of the new HEAL Library. The HEAL Library is a searchable resource of Healthy Eating and Active Living policies that can be used by those interested in HEAL policy, including community leaders, advocates, municipal and county staff and elected officials.

Visitors to the library can find sample policies, template language and more information by browsing from a list of topics or searching for subject-specific information using filters. As the Campaign continues to gain momentum and grow, we encourage veteran municipalities that have been involved over the year to send us any new HEAL policies that have been passed in your city or town.

One of the many benefits the Campaign offers is free technical assistance to help advance your policy goals. Campaign staff offer help with drafting and reviewing policies in the areas of active community, healthy food access and worksite wellness, 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.

line

How Municipalities Can Include Food Access in Comprehensive Plans

Livewell Colorado

The HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign supports Colorado communities that are interested in integrating healthy eating and active living into their long-term planning documents. In the past decade food systems planning has emerged as a valid field within the city planning profession and are increasingly part of planning documents. Click here for more resources and to read the full case study.

Use the New HEAL Library to Advance Your Policy Goals

Livewell Colorado

The HEAL Library is a searchable resource for community leaders, advocates, agency staff and elected officials to find examples of healthy eating active living (HEAL) public policies and regulations. The library contains real-life case studies and language you can use to make policy changes at the municipal, county and state levels, as well as summaries of HEAL policies –searchable by topic– and links to actual policy language. Click here to explore this new tool and to contribute your own codes, ordinances or public policies to the library.

Grant Opportunities

Livewell Colorado

Safe Routes to School National Partnership Technical Assistance
The Safe Routes to School National Partnership can assist your efforts to make your community a place where kids can easily be active and healthy. The partnership is offering free technical assistance to successful applicants working in underserved communities on campaigns to obtain shared use agreements, Complete Streets policies, or other policies in support of walking, bicycling and Safe Routes to School. Technical assistance can range from providing resources, to assisting with the creation of campaign plans and platforms, to developing communications strategies and coaching to ensure a successful campaign. Successful applicants will receive technical assistance over the next eight months. For more information, click here. Applications are due September 26, 2014.

Weigh and Win
Weigh and Win is a free program for Colorado residents. Through the use of stationary or mobile kiosk units, it incorporates best practices for weight loss and pays participants to achieve a healthy weight. The program is a great asset to a community and a worksite wellness program! Weigh and Win will be awarding grants to potential community partners who have the desire to implement the program and align strategies in their respective community. Preference will be given to projects that target community outreach and create a resource for underserved and low-income populations. Weigh and Win provides participants with:

Daily Support: Personalized healthy eating and physical activity coaching by email or text. Includes daily meal and exercise plans!

• Track Your Progress: Photographed quarterly weigh-ins taken at private kiosks located conveniently throughout the community.

• Success Rewarded: Receive quarterly cash incentives for weight improvement and maintenance and monthly prize drawings for program participation.

• Join for Free: Join the free program at WeighandWin.com.

• It Works: Weigh and Win’s method of helping participants slowly incorporate more nutrition and physical activity into their daily lifestyle will allow them to achieve and maintain a healthier weight and lifestyle. The program works – the average weight improvement after one year is 8%.

For more information, click here. Applications are due November 7, 2014.

CDOT: Safe Routes to School Non-Infrastructure Project Grants
All SRTS funds available for FY15 projects will support non-infrastructure (education, encouragement, and enforcement) projects. Infrastructure projects are not eligible for funding during this grant cycle. Research has shown the most successful way to increase bicycling and walking is through a comprehensive approach that includes the “Five E’s” (Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, Engineering and Evaluation). $700,000 is available for non-infrastructure grants thanks to the Colorado General Assembly’s passage of House Bill 14-1301. For more information, click here. Applications are due November 14, 2014.

Webinars

Livewell Colorado

CML & LiveWell Colorado Webinar: Engaging Residents in HEAL
On October 8 from 11:30—12:30, CML and LiveWell Colorado is hosting a webinar for HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign members, as well as those interested in learning more about how elected officials lay the policy groundwork and engage residents to increase healthy eating and active living in your community. Participants will learn some of the ways city and town officials in Colorado have implemented HEAL (healthy eating and active living) concepts, as well as some innovative examples of how municipal officials in California have engaged their residents. Great ideas will be shared - some may be ideal for using in your community! Click here for more information and to register.

Walk to School Day (October 8) Information and Activities

Livewell Colorado

International Walk to School Day is a global event that involves communities from more than 40 countries walking and biking to school on the same day. It began in 1997 as a one-day event. Over time, this event has become part of a movement for year-round safe routes to school and a celebration – with record breaking participation – each October. Today, thousands of schools across America – from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico – participate. Register your Walk to School event here and find inspiration, articles and activities on our Pinterest page.

Apply for the Urban Land Institute Building Healthy Places Workshop

Livewell Colorado

With support from Colorado Health Foundation, Urban Land Institute (ULI) Colorado seeks to work with two Colorado communities to provide a Building Health Places (BHP) Workshop. This one-day exercise will enlist volunteer experts to identify opportunities to improve connections between health and the built environment. These workshops will study two selected communities and provide recommendations and next steps to improve the built environment with regard to community health and wellness. The application launches October 7, 2014. Please contact ULI Colorado at colorado@uli.org or 303.893.1760.

 

In This Issue

Food Access in Comprehensive Plans

HEAL Library

Grant Opportunities

Webinars

Walk to School Day

Urban Land Institute Building Healthy Places Workshop

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, CO
  • Mike Braaten

    Deputy City Manager, Littleton, CO
  • Rene Bullock

    Mayor Pro Tem, Commerce City, CO
  • Shane Hale

    City Manager, Cortez, CO
  • Nikki Knoebel

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

    Council Member, Brush, CO
  • Heidi Williams

    Mayor, Thornton, CO

*Colorado Municipal League executive board member

line

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.

 
LiveWellColorado.org