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National
New Healthy Communities Toolkit Targets Childhood Obesity
Alarmed by the American obesity epidemic, with more than 23 million children and adolescents overweight or obese, $117 billion in annual costs, and concerns that ''this generation of young people may be the first in U.S. history to live sicker and die younger than their parents' generation,'' the national Leadership for Healthy Communities program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation partnered with 11 policy-maker organizations at every level of government to promote school, community and child health, releasing their joint smart-growth-friendly ''Action Strategies Toolkit: A Guide for Local and State Leaders Working to Create Healthy Communities and Prevent Childhood Obesity'' last month at a Washington, D.C. summit, followed by a June 10 presentation for the Healthy Communities Network Webinar.
''Through daily decisions about budgets, laws, regulations or zoning, policy-makers can help develop healthier and more viable communities,'' write Leadership for Healthy Communities Director Maya Rockeymoore Cummings and the partnering leaders in the introduction to the toolkit. ''For example, government leaders can facilitate land-use policies, such as mixed-use development, and support public parks and transit options, including walking paths and bicycle lanes. They can create incentives to attract supermarkets and farmers' markets to underserved communities and improve the nutritional quality of foods and beverages in schools.''
The signatories stress that their toolkit strategies ''have tremendous potential to change the trajectory of our children's future.'' Signatories include:
- Council of State Governments Executive Director David Adkins
- National League of Cities Executive Director Donald J. Borut
- National School Boards Association Executive Director Anne L. Bryant
- United States Conference of Mayors Executive Director Tom Cochran
- Local Government Commission Executive Director Judy Corbett
- American Association of School Administrators Executive Director Daniel A. Domenech
- National Association of Counties Executive Director Larry E. Naake
- International City/County Management Association Executive Director Robert J. O'Neil, Jr.
- National Conference of State Legislatures Executive Director William Pound
- National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund Executive Director Arturo Vargas
- National Association of State Board of Education Executive Director Brenda L. Welburn
The first part of the toolkit addresses active living and the built environment, including transportation, land use, open spaces, parks and recreation, quality physical activity in and near schools, and safety and crime prevention.
The second part focuses on healthy eating, specifically on quality school nutrition, supermarkets and healthy food vendors, farm-fresh local foods, restaurants, and food and beverage marketing.
Both specify issues and cite research in each category, list and explain terms, identify potential stakeholders, outline policy and program options, and offer advice on getting started.
Access the toolkit online at www.leadershipforhealthycommunities.org/actionstrategies -- Leadership for Healthy Communities 6/1/2009
Click here to view the source publication.
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