Featured Stories

 ENACT 2007 a huge success!

Over 100 people from all over California traveled to Sacramento on May 15 for the annual ENACT: Nutrition & Activity Day, educating policy makers on key legislative opportunities to improve California’s nutrition and physical activity environments.  Participants gathered for a morning training on keys to a successful legislative visit; afterwards they headed to the capitol to meet with legislators and legislative staff.  This year, participants focused on three key pieces of legislation: AB 534 (Smyth), to increase Bicycle Transportation Account funding; SB 120 (Padilla-Midgen), to require nutritional information on chain restaurant menus; and AB 92 (Garcia), to require over 500 schools to offer healthy breakfasts.

To learn more about these bills, please visit the California Food Policy Advocates website at http://www.cfpa.net.  If you are interested in getting involved with next year’s ENACT day, please e-mail Alyssa Walker at aw@publichealthadvocacy.org.

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Legislative updates

Federal Legislation

The 2007 Farm Bill is swinging into high gear as the official drafting of the bill in Subcommittees starts this week. A number of bills have been introduced in Congress that promote nutrition and access to healthy foods.  Visit Strategic Alliance’s Farm Bill webpage for more resources and to connect with other groups working on the Farm Bill.

California Legislation

The upcoming 2007-2008 legislative session will review several landmark policies linking the built environment to health, specifically in the area of physical activity.  The built environment—the physical structures and infrastructures of communities—plays a significant role in shaping our ability to be physically active.  Decisions about land use, zoning, and transportation have strong implications for the level of safety and attractiveness of neighborhoods for activities such as walking, biking, and outdoor recreation. Highlights include: policies to complete our streets, opportunities to factor health issues into community design, and funding guidelines for park bond monies.

Complete Streets Act of 2007--AB 1358 (Leno) would require cities and counties to design roadways that include safe and connected passages for bicyclists and pedestrians.  Giving people access to walking and biking paths and trails can help address multiple problems, including inactivity-related chronic disease, asthma due to poor air quality, and injuries due to roads that do not accommodate all users.  AB 1358 (Leno), which has passed Assembly Local Government and is now in Appropriations, will provide realistic alternatives to driving by building roadways that are safe and inviting for non-motorized transportation, making it easier for more Californians to embrace active lifestyles.

California Healthy Places Act--AB 1472 (Leno) and AB 437 (Jones) provide an opportunity to strategically plan our communities and neighborhoods with health in mind.  AB 1472, which would have the state provide technical assistance and grants to local land-use planning efforts aimed at creating healthy communities, will be heard in Appropriations today. AB 437, which authorizes county health officers to provide assistance to cities and counties with regard to public health issues as they relate to local land use planning and transportation planning processes, has also passed out Senate Health and is currently in the Senate on the Inactive file: assembly bills. Local agencies are in the best position to identify health and planning priorities and the State’s support of these efforts are critical.

Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply bill--SB 732 (Steinberg) provides funding guidelines for the recently passed Park Bond. SB 732 would combine two funding sources to create a $600 million competitive grants program. SB 732 provisions include the funding of “underserved” communities, a funding preference for new parks or for overused parks for expansion, and community involvement in project selection and planning process. Additionally, SB 732 would ensure that each project includes efficient use of resources. For information on SB 732, please visit the CPRS website.

For more information on individual pieces of legislation, visit www.publichealthadvocacy.org/legislation.html

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In the News

Food & Beverage Companies Targeting Children & Teens with Digital Marketing Tactics

Berkeley Media Studies Group and the Center for Digital Democracy have released “Interactive Food & Beverage Marketing: Targeting Children and Youth in the Digital Age,” documenting how food and beverage companies are using the latest digital media technologies to promote their products to children and adolescents.  Marketing techniques include cell phones, instant messaging, video games, user-generated video, and three-dimensional virtual worlds. The report also reveals a range of new digital strategies these marketers have devised for targeting multicultural youth. Click here to access the executive summary, full report, and interactive visual examples.

 “Digital technologies are fundamentally transforming how food and beverage companies do business with children and adolescents in the twenty-first century,” explained American University professor and report co-author Kathryn Montgomery, Ph.D. “We urge the Federal Trade Commission to include the full range of new media strategies identified in this report in its investigation of contemporary food marketing practices.”

We urge you to monitor your local media for coverage of the report and to respond with letters to the editor and op-eds. Click here for Rapid Response talking points.

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Announcements

California Kids’ Plates Funding Opportunities

The Center for Injury Prevention Policy and Practice (CIPPP), in collaboration with the California Department of Public Health, State and Local Injury Control Section, is pleased to announce the next round of California Kids’ Plates funding for preventing unintentional injuries to children and adolescents. (All funding is contingent on appropriate status of the California state budget).

Request for Applications (RFAs) will be released in late June 2007 online at CIPPP.org for the following grant types:

• Building Community Capacity for Unintentional Injury Prevention
• Developing Unintentional Injury Prevention Program/s

Request for Applications (RFAs) will be released in late August 2007 online at CIPPP.org for the following grant types:

• Equipment
• Professional Development

For more information, visit www.CIPPP.org.

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Upcoming Events

Jose Feliciano Benefit Concert

June 8, 2007, Irvine CA

Preventing Obesity in the Hip-Hop Generation

June 14, Los Angeles CA

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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 Sana@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, Samuels & Associates, and YMCA of the East Bay.

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

The Strategic Alliance is reframing the debate on nutrition and physical activity--from a focus solely on individual choice and lifestyle, towards one of environmental influences and corporate and government responsibility.

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