Last month, officials and champions of healthy eating and active living (HEAL) policies from across Colorado and the nation convened for the first HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign Summit: Advancing Healthy Eating and Active Living.

In partnership with Leadership for Healthy Communities, a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, LiveWell Colorado co-hosted the summit on Nov. 19-20, 2013, in Westminster, CO. The 25 invited Colorado municipalities learned best practices and strategies to advance policy and environmental changes that increase access to HEAL in their communities.

"Without a doubt the HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign Summit was the best conference I've attended in quite some time," said Vikki Quinlin, city council member for Brush, CO.

Visionaries such as Mayor Chip Johnson of Hernando, MS; Yael Lehmann, executive director of The Food Trust; and leaders from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shared their best practices alongside local Colorado experts in sessions such as:
• Built Environments That Promote Active Lifestyles;
• Making the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice at Work; and
• Food Fairness: Strengthening Access to Healthy Food and Building Local Economies.

The summit was a great success by all measures. Teams of elected officials and staff from 13 municipalities that have joined the HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign – and another five from municipalities that are in the process of adopting resolutions – participated in the summit.
Also in attendance were LiveWell Colorado community coordinators and local public health staff, bringing the total number of participants to 120. 

Thank you to our partners, Kaiser Permanente, The Colorado Health Foundation, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and the Colorado Municipal League, for helping make the summit possible. A special thank you to all of the attendees that traveled near and far. Your presence and community expertise contributed to the success of the summit.

To view the PowerPoint presentations, agenda and audio presentations visit the resources page of our website.

The Town of Oak Creek and the City of Commerce City play intricate roles in the inaugural HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign Summit.

Active Living
As part of the active living and built environment panel, Oak Creek, Colorado Mayor Nikki Knoebel provided a first-hand account of the role a municipality can play in increasing access to active living. Major Knoebel was part of a panel that examined the policy elements of community design that promote movement, and she highlighted best practices that are taking place in her community. In 2011, the Town of Oak Creek adopted a Recreation Master Plan which, through their public input process, led to the development of a trails plan, as well. Oak Creek is an example of how implementing HEAL policies leads to positive changes. Thank you to Mayor Knoebel and the Town of Oak Creek for sharing your story.

Site Visit: HEAL and Economic Development in the Derby District
On day two of the summit, Commerce City hosted a site visit to highlight healthy eating and active living and how it relates to economic development. Participants boarded a bus and traveled to the Derby District of Commerce City. City staff, business and community leaders shared the collaborative process used to begin the revitalization of Derby. Participants saw how infrastructure improvements support healthy living, while also redeveloping the business area. This site visit attracted 40 summit participants who toured the six major revitalization projects of Derby. These projects included an intersection improvement, a renovation of the local library, infrastructure and design improvements of three parks, and a community garden open to people of all ages and abilities. Thank you to Commerce City for demonstrating the important work of HEAL policies in your community.

Walk and Wheel Colorado 

Congratulations to the City of Aurora, the City of Commerce City, the City of Littleton, and the Town of Milliken for being awarded Walk and Wheel Colorado grants. This opportunity is a great way Kaiser Permanente is partnering with the HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign. 

The Walk & Wheel Colorado grant program provides funding, technical assistance, evaluation guidance and community engagement resources to local city or county governments and non-profit or government employer groups with the goal of creating environments that support accessibility to daily activities via multi modal transportation promoting healthy active lifestyles and healthier people. In total, KP received 25 proposals including 12 local government/municipalities and 13 non-profit or government employer groups, requesting over $1.7M in funding. There was wide geographical spread and many proposals included bicycle/pedestrian counters to provide data and tracking for proposed infrastructure improvements.  

For information on other grant opportunities, click here.

The Colorado Municipal League is hosting a webinar, The Colorado Fresh Food Financing Fund on Tuesday, February 4, 2014 12:00—1:00pm MST. The Colorado Fresh Food Financing Fund (CO4F) was started to help increase access to fresh and healthy food in rural and urban areas where access is limited. CO4F supports building new grocery stores, improving and keeping existing stores open, and create innovative fresh food business concepts. Learn more about how CO4F can increase access to healthy foods in your community. To participate, register here for this webinar.

Presenters:
• Tim Dolan, Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, Senior Commercial Loan Officer
• Erica Heller, Progressive Urban Management Associates, Senior Associate
• Khan Nguyen, The Colorado Health Foundation, Healthy Living Portfolio Director

Enhancing Walkability & Bikeability in Rural, Urban, & Subsurban Settings
Join the Colorado Municipal League and LiveWell Colorado for a webinar series to promote health in your community. Developed expressly for municipalities, this webinar series addresses current issues affecting community health, livability, and prosperity.

The next webinar in this series titled, Enhancing Walkability & Bikeability in Rural, Urban & Suburban Settings will be offered on Thursday, January 23, 2014 1:00—2:30pm MST. This webinar will focus on policy and funding opportunities to enhance pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure in rural and suburban cities. Specific topics include complete streets, safe walking to schools, walking and economic development and federal transportation funds. Register now for this upcoming webinar. 

Click here to view archived webinars from this series.