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California Convergence eNewsletter - August, 2009 - Community Prevention & Health Care Reform |
| Dear California Convergence Participant, |
Welcome to the August issue of the California Convergence eNewsletter! This month's issue focusses on the importance of Community Prevention in Health Care Reform. Advocates for healthier food and physical activity environments know the most effective way to improve health, safety, and equity is through prevention. Community prevention aims to prevent disease before it occurs, thus creating healtier communities and decreased health care cost. Still, the importance of prevention as a foundation to health care reform is being debated thoughout the nation. As our representatives return to our communities to hear their constituents' health care concerns, it is a crititcal time to hone our message of prevention as a priority.
Below we have highlighted two community prevention success stories. These are excellent examples that can be used to demonstrate the real change prevention strategies can have on a community. We have also listed a number of resources that contain language and talking points that can you can use when contacting your elected officials, the media, or answering tough questions from the public.
Also, the Healthy Eating, Active Communities (HEAC) website has recently been revamped. The website now has an extensive listing of real, on-the-ground accomplishments the HEAC grantees have gained, many of which are excellent examples of community prevention at work. The website's resource library has also been expanded, and a key-word search function has been added to make for easier navigation as you search for specific resources. The HEAC website will continue to be updated on a regular basis, and we welcome your feedback as we continue to expand and improve this resource.
As always, be sure to check out Ning where you can share resources, best practices, join the discussion boards, or simply network with other advocates working to improve food and physical activity environments. We also urge you to contact us by replying to this email with suggestions for improving this publication, or if you would like your work, events, or resources featured in the next California Convergence eNewsletter. | |
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| Community Prevention Through Healthier Food Retail |
Shasta County, California
In 2006, as part of an afterschool program in Shasta County, a rural community in the Northern region of California's Central Valley, five middle school students came together to change the way food is bought and sold in their environment. They started by approaching Wal-Mart, the areas largest retailer, with the simple question, "Do you care about the health of your community?" To the student's surprise, the store's manager invited the group to redesign the checkout aisle's shelf display by replacing candy bars and potato chips with healthier options like dried fruit and granola. The students called the project "Kids Make a Stand," and held a press conference to announce the new displays. Sales were strong from the beginning, allowing Wal-Mart to adopt even more healthy options displays.
"Kids Make a Stand" is just one of the many successful initiatives undertaken through the Shasta County HEAC (Healthy Eating, Active Living) Collaborative, which is now working with several other local retailers to adopt similar practices. Every year new students are joining the effort and are even meeting with local City Council members to explore the possible development of community-wide nutrition guidelines.
- Visit the Healthy Eating, Active Communities Website by clicking here
- To learn about the Shasta County community, click here |
| Community Prevention Through Park Revitalization |
Chula Vista, California
Chula Vista, a Southern San Diego County community, is one of California's many cities that have seen a rapid decline in the state of its local parks over the last decade. Lauderbach Park, a community green space taken over by gangs, prostitution, drugs, and graffiti, is no exception. All of this changed in 2007 when a small group of local students came together determined to reclaim their childhood play space. They joined forces with local promatoras, Spanish-speaking health promoters who served as the student's mentors, and began receiving training in leadership development and policy advocacy. They surveyed their neighbors to see what they needed in their local park, and they invited city officials to a public meeting held on the Lauderbach grounds. Their efforts paid off. By bringing together neighborhood parents and their children, city police and representatives from the Parks and Recreation department, the students were able to compile a neighborhood wish list, which was then presented to the local City Council.
Today, Lauderbach Park has been refreshed with new landscaping, safer lighting, clean restrooms, a children's play area, and better pedestrian pathways around the park's borders. Families and children have returned to the park, drinking and smoking are now banned, and a community garden is currently in the works. The revitalization of Lauderbach Park was so successful the plan is being repeated in five other Chula Vista parks.
- Visit the Healthy Eating, Active Living Website by clicking here
- To learn more about the community of Chula Vista, please click here |
| Community Prevention in Health Care - Talking Points and Resources |
Below is a list of resources that can assist advocates as you reach out to elected officials and the public at large to highlight the importance of community prevention in health care reform. We thank Prevention Institute and PolicyLink for developing and sharing these resources. All of these resources can be found on Ning.
Strengthening What Works
Language from this memo, authored by Prevention Institute and PolicyLink, can be used when people are drafting letters to their Congresspeople. Click here to view or download the memo through Ning.
Health Care Reform: Talking Points
These talking points can be used when advocates and community leaders go on legislative visits or site visits. Click here to view or download these talking points through Ning.
Prevention in Health Care Reform: The Hard Questions
This document provides answers to some of the tough questions that legislators, legislative staff, or others might ask. Click here to view or download the document through Ning.
Health Care and The Media
These talking points can be used for letters to the editor response to articles in the media about health reform. Click here to view or doanload this document through Ning. |
| California Convergence Events |
Safe Routes to School National ConferenceAugust 19-21, 2009 Portland, Oregon Whether you are a local practitioner, transportation planner, advocate, school official, engineer, parent, health professional, researcher, non-profit partner, or with law enforcement, this conference will provide valuable information for propelling your Safe Routes to School work to the next level. Click here to learn more or register. Taking Action to Support Community Prevention and Equity in Health Reform - New Webinar Added!
August 24th, 2009
Webinar
Important policies to shape our health system and the nation's health are being debated in Congress right now. YOU can have an impact by reaching out to your members of Congress now and during the August summer recess when members are in their district offices. We invite you to participate in a series of free web forums organized by Prevention Institute and Public Health Institute on Dialogue4Health.org. Click here to register or learn more.
California Diabetes Summit: Partnering to Improve the Public's Health
September 2 & 3, 2009
Sacramento, California
Since its creation in 1981, the California Diabetes Program has been a coordinating leader for diabetes prevention and control. As part of its mission to prevent diabetes and its complications in California's diverse communities, preparations are underway to host the first California Diabetes Summit. This conference, scheduled for September 2-3, 2009 in Sacramento, will bring together some of the nation's preeminent diabetes care professionals, as well as leaders in research and health care delivery systems. Conference invitees will include a broad group of professionals from throughout the state who work with people with and at risk for diabetes.
Fall HEAC Grantee Meeting
October 5th, 2009
Anaheim, California
(By invitiation -- HEAC grantees and supporting partners)
Please join your HEAC colleagues for the fall Grantee Meeting in Anaheim, CA on October 5, 2009; the day prior to the School Wellness Conference (see below). The meeting will be located in the same hotel as the School Wellness Conference, the Anaheim Marriott Hotel. Registration will begin on August 24th so please watch for upcoming emails for additional information. To learn more about this meeting please visit the HEAC website. If you have any questions regarding the location and registration, please contact Sonia Bailey, Conference and Meeting Planner for the Partnership for the Public's Health (sbailey@parternshipph.org).
2009 School Wellness Conference October 6 & 7, 2009
Anaheim, California
The California School Boards Association, the California Department of Education, and the California Department of Public Health will bring together a diverse group of school community leaders who play a role in creating sustainable healthy school environments. The conference will address critical health issues and their link to academic achievement, such as nutrition, physical education and activity, mental health, oral health, diabetes, indoor air quality, asthma and more. And join us for the Pre-Conference, Finding common ground: Collaborating to prevent childhood obesity, on Monday, October 5, 2009. The pre-conference session will be complimentary to those who register for the conference. Seating is limited. Learn more about these events by clicking here. |
| California Convergence - Grant Opportunities |
School Wellness through Expanding Breakfast Grant Program
Deadline: December 1, 2009
The 2009 Dairy MAX School Wellness through Expanding Breakfast Grant Program helps schools begin new expanded breakfast programs to improve student access to nutritious meals. The goal of the expanded breakfast program is to increase the average daily participation by 50% or more by establishing one of the following alternative breakfast service options: Breakfast in the Classroom, Grab 'n Go Breakfast (served outside the cafeteria), or Breakfast after 1st Period.
Please click here for more information and to apply.
Peaceful Pathways: Reducing Exposure to Violence
Deadline: December 31, 2009
Through this special solicitation from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Local Funding Partnerships, the Foundation partners with diversity focused funders and other local grantmakers to fund projects to reduce violence in specific communities such as those defined by race, ethnicity, tribe, gender, sexual identity or rural/frontier location.
Please click here for more program and grant specific information.
KaBoom Community Partnership Grants
Deadline: Rolling
KaBOOM! is a national nonprofit that envisions a place for children to play within walking distance to local residences in North America. In order to achieve this, KaBOOM! has created ongoing opportunities for community organizations to build a new playground or skatepark. Ideal community partners are usually child-serving non-profit organizations, but can be community development organizations, neighborhood coalitions, schools or any organization that can mobilize a volunteer work force and is in need of new play places.
Please click here for more specific grant information and to apply. | |
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Partnership for the Public's Health
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