Featured Stories

New ENACT Sustainable Food System Strategies!

Communities across the country are recognizing the importance of access to healthy food in preventing chronic disease. At the same time, concerns about our current food system have led to increasing interest in sustainable food systems that promote human health, protect the environment, and provide a livable income and fair working conditions for growers and laborers.  Community members are joining efforts to take action to ensure that residents have access to fresh, local, healthy foods. With funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Prevention Institute has updated ENACT to include strategies that promote both health and a sustainable food system. 

Visit the online ENACT tool to explore over 75 promising strategies to improve food and activity environments. Read more...

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 Strategic Alliance Web Forum - Save the Date!

April 16th, 2008 - Register Now!

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about the Strategic Alliance’s approach to prevention.  When we say “prevention” most people think about what individuals can do for themselves, not what neighborhoods can do for residents, or what we can do for each other. How can we help people understand that prevention means we have to create healthy places if we want healthy people? 

Please join Linnea Ashley from Strategic Alliance’s Rapid Response Network and Lori Dorfman from Berkeley Media Studies Group in an interactive web forum to explore what taking an environmental approach to improving nutrition and activity environments means and how we can talk about it.  Details...

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Legislative updates

Senate Select Committee Troubled by CA Governor's Inaction

Earlier this month, a Strategic Alliance special edition reported on the California Senate Select Committee on Obesity and Diabetes, which concluded that Governor Schwarzenegger and his administration have done little to uphold commitments to improve nutrition and physical activity environments throughout California.  Although the Governor's 2006 Obesity Prevention Plan - modeled after Strategic Alliance's Taking Action Platform - reflected a significant first step, initial momentum and commitment to the issue has waned. Read more...

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Local Spotlight

Joint Use Success in Los Angeles

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is about to open some of their elementary school playground facilities for community use! People for Parks (PFP), a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, enhancing and expanding parks and open space throughout L.A. County, has worked with LAUSD, City of Los Angeles, and community groups to develop a plan to green school playgrounds and open them for public use outside school hours. Although LAUSD has opened many middle and high school campuses, there are still over 400 elementary schools, many of which are in low-income neighborhoods that would benefit from having additional open and recreational spaces. PFP President Jack Foley says, “There aren’t enough parks in Los Angeles, and minority communities have borne an unequal share of this deficit. A vibrant local park is an asset for an entire neighborhood.” Read more...

To learn more about collaborations between schools and communities, please visit the online Environmental Nutritional and Activity Community Tool.

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In the News

NYC Increases Fruit and Vegetable Carts in Low Income Neighborhoods

Mobile food carts that sell only fresh fruits and vegetables –– ‘Green Carts’ –– will hit the streets of New York City’s low-income neighborhoods as early as this spring. According to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, "The communities in our city where obesity and diabetes continue to skyrocket are the same communities that lack even the most basic access to fresh fruits and vegetables.” Eating more fruits and vegetables prevents type II diabetes, heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, and many other illnesses. The City Council voted late February to issue 1,500 new permits exclusively in the neighborhoods that need them most, saying a scarcity of fresh produce has led to high rates of nutrition and activity-related chronic disease. Read more about green carts and view the actual policy language in the ENACT Local Policy Database.

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America’s Best Cities for Walking

What makes a city walkable?  According to Prevention.com and the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA), criteria including green space, public transportation, crime rates, and pedestrian safety are key indicators of America’s best walking cities. This year’s panel of walkability experts rated the 10 largest cities in each state and placed Cambridge (MA), New York City (NY), and Ann Arbor (MI) in the top three slots. San Francisco was the only California city in the top 10. Whether for fun, fitness, commuting or errands, walking is the most common form of physical activity, and people are more likely to walk when they live in walkable cities. Yet people living in low wealth communities and in communities of color are less likely to experience key features of walkability, such as ample green space, low crime rates, and good air quality.  Read more...

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Resources

Prevention is Primary One Year Anniversary

March marks the one-year anniversary of Prevention is Primary, the academic text on primary prevention from Prevention Institute. In just one year, Prevention is Primary has already sold nearly 3000 copies!  The text is written primarily for current and future public health, public policy and social welfare professionals to underscore the value and promise of prevention and to frame its practice as a key social and economic justice issue. Read more...

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PBS to air Unnatural Causes beginning March 27

Is inequity making us sick? California Newsreel's ground breaking series, Unnatural Causes will be aired on PBS starting March 27.  This series describes how the public and certain populations' health and well being are adversely impacted by social and physical factors. Read more...

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Announcements

Safe Routes Partnership: Call for Steering Committee Nominations

Looking for a way to make a difference in the way children get to school and influence the decisions made about our streets?  The Safe Routes to School National Partnership is now accepting nominations for several Steering Committee positions representing government agencies, non-governmental organizations and professional associations. Read more...

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Childhood Obesity Prevention Program and Policy Nominations Requested

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are seeking nominations for programs or policies that fall into 4 areas regarding nutrition and physical activity. The submission deadline is Monday, March 31, 2008. Read more...

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Now Accepting Applications for the 2008 Bay Area Dietetic Association Community Nutrition Grant

The Bay Area Dietetic Association is beginning the search for its 2008 Community Nutrition Grant recipient. The Community Nutrition Grant program began in 1988 with the intent of fostering and supporting community nutrition demonstration projects that would benefit at risk populations. The deadline to apply is April 4th! Read more...

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Upcoming Events

Documentary: Unnatural Causes…Is Inequality Making Us Sick?

Watch on PBS March 27th, April 3rd, April 10th, and April 17th

How to Educate Your Elected Officials on Hunger and Poverty

Trainings March 27th-April 17th at different locations in Los Angeles region

True Urbanism: Designing the Healthy City

June 1st-5th, Santa Fe, New Mexico

The Path to Healthy Communities: Place-Based Solutions to Achieving Health Equity

Various dates and locations throughout CA from April 9-28

More Events

~       Spring       ~      Summer      ~     Fall          ~

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Thanks for reading!  The Strategic Alliance is currently engaged in building a broad and diverse statewide membership.  If you were forwarded this e-mail and want to receive your own copy in the future, please click here or e-mail carol@preventioninstitute.org.  And if you’re already a member, please forward this message to your colleagues so we can continue to strengthen our coalition.  Thank you!

WHAT IS THE STRATEGIC ALLIANCE?

The Strategic Alliance is reframing the debate on nutrition and physical activity away from a focus solely on individual choice and lifestyle towards one of environmental influences and corporate and government responsibility. Current Steering Committee members are: California Adolescent Nutrition and Fitness Program (CANFit), California Center for Public Health Advocacy (CCPHA), California Food Policy Advocates (CFPA), California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, California Park and Recreation Society (CPRS), California Project LEAN, California WIC Association (CWA), Child Care Food Program Roundtable, Latino Health Access, Partnership for the Public’s Health, Prevention Institute, and Samuels & Associates.

The Strategic Alliance is supported by funding from The California Endowment.

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