Dear HEAL partners,

 

The HEAL team is excited about the prospects 2015 holds for HEAL NH and its partners to build on the six-year foundation of collaborative efforts that began with the launch of the 2008 Healthy Eating Active Living Action Plan for New Hampshire. We now have a new roadmap - the five-year Healthy People Healthy Places Plan - and we are already off and running.

 

The monthly HEAL e-newsletter is usually a forum to highlight the successes of HEAL community coalitions across the state, and provide tools and resources to HEAL network partners. With the goal to inspire the HEAL network to accelerate its collaborative efforts, this month's newsletter is dedicated to providing an overview of HEAL's direction moving forward. 

 

HEAL team members, Beth Gustafson-Wheeler, Nik Coates and Michelle Morel will preview the HEAL network's future efforts to build a bigger and stronger community coalition collaborative, and advance active recreation and active transportation strategies, work that is well underway.  

 

Where does your work align with HEAL's?

 

As you read this newsletter, consider where your work aligns with HEAL's, and as a network of dedicated partners, we can collectively work to create healthier people and places in New Hampshire.

 

During 2014, the HEAL network stepped up its efforts to implement policy, systems and environmental strategies to increase equitable access to healthy foods and opportunities for physical activity. Greater connectivity and alignment between state and community partners was a critical lever to strengthen collaborative efforts.

 

The 2014 statewide HEAL Conference showcased the work of HEAL partners at state and community levels. The conference made national news, touting HEAL's collective impact approach to implementing innovative population-based policy, systems, and environmental strategies to address New Hampshire's obesity and chronic disease burden.

 

The conference, framed by the theme, "Accelerating Progress Towards Healthy People and Healthy Places", highlighted the successes, challenges and lessons learned of HEAL Community Coalitions blanketing the state.

 

The 2014-2019  Healthy People Healthy Places Plan was unveiled, and table discussions brought people together to identify actions to advance HEAL in their own regions and localities. Click here to read a comprehensive summary of the outcomes of the regional dialogues. 

 


 

Where do we go from here?

 

HEAL network partners' seasoned experience informs the next phase of work. The vision is Healthy People and Healthy Places. The mission is to provide equitable opportunities for all New Hampshire residents to make healthy choices. 

 

Organizations and individuals throughout the state are rallying around this vision and mission. Success over the next five years will be ensured by your continuing dedication to the network. 

 

This is a renewed call to action to re-ignite the HEAL Leadership Council, community coalitions, committees, and working groups to accelerate their collective efforts.

 

Thanks to engaged partners like you, and foundations like the HNH Foundation, Endowment for Health, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield Foundation, NH Department of Health and Human Services, and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation, the future looks bright for HEAL.

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

 

 


 
Terry Johnson, Director Healthy Eating Active Living NH

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In this issue...
Buzz
HEAL Communities are Creating a Buzz! Announcing 2015 HEAL Community Network Meetings

 

Manchester Farmers Market
We are very excited to continue our work with NH communities to advance healthy eating and active living work in the State.  The work you do in your communities has provided us with countless inspirational stories to tell and lift up as models for others to see and learn from.  

The result?  You have created a "buzz" in NH that has directly contributed to the growth of HEAL in the State!  

 

To date, we have a total of 14 HEAL communities who are part of our network... and this number continues to climb as we enter 2015 with new communities wanting to come on board!

 

And what better way to introduce them to the HEAL Community Network than at one of our quarterly meetings?  

 

The networking opportunity at our HEAL Community Network meetings has become a vital part of assisting new and seasoned communities in their HEAL efforts.  Because of this, it is a priority of HEAL NH to continue these meetings and provide you with opportunities to share, learn, mentor, and grow.  Creating that much sought after HEAL "buzz" in our communities and in the State is what will lift us all up to create greater impact across NH.  Let's continue to create that "buzz" in 2015!

 

Please join us at the 2015 HEAL Community Network meetings:

  • Thursday, February 26, 2015
  • Thursday, May 7, 2015
  • Wednesday, August 19, 2015
  • Thursday, December 3, 2015

Next Month's Meeting...

Thursday, February 26, 2015

9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Location:  Foundation for Healthy Communities

 

Along with our regular HEAL updates and networking, HEAL welcomes speakers Neil Twitchell and Lisa Morris who will present the latest work of NH Public Health Regions.

 

B
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Nashua Heritage Rail Trail
By Beth Gustafson-Wheeler

It's cold-- real cold-- outside, and I have the great honor of working with a group of recreation professionals who love to don their skis, snowshoes, and crampons and bask in all its wondrous glory! 

 

I am just happy they don't ask for their workgroup meetings outdoors this winter...

 

Though outdoor enthusiasts indeed, they are a committed group of professionals who have been working diligently on advising and planning for the implementation of the Active Recreation objective in NH's new Healthy People Healthy Places Plan.

 

Here are a few updates from the group

  • We are currently collecting information and resources on Joint Use Agreements (JUA).  We will then make these resources available for communities, organizations, and others interested in increasing access to recreation opportunities through JUA's.
  • Members of the workgroup will start work this year on an education and advocacy plan to promote JUA use in NH.
  • We are working with our partners at Plymouth State University and UNH, and Cindy Heath to create and implement an inventory tool to help us identify recreation resources and access issues in NH's highest need communities.  Results should help us understand potential barriers to recreation as well as effective solutions. 

We will keep you posted as to how this work unfolds in our monthly newsletter.  However, if you have questions or would like more information on the efforts of the Active Recreation Workgroup, please contact me at [email protected] or 603-415-4278.

 

Now, on behalf of the Active Recreation Workgroup... Get out and Play!

 

C
By Michelle Morel, Morel Communications

2014 was a pivotal year for HEAL, offering many opportunities to communicate messages about its ongoing community work and promote the new Healthy People Healthy Places (HPHP) Plan. HEAL's communication efforts contributed to the HEAL network's growth during 2014.

 

At the community level, coalitions across the state continued to turn to the HEAL Home for technical assistance with press releases, messaging tactics, collateral material designs, and other communications support. Round 2 community grantees launched several projects and successfully engaged their community partners to get the word out about their progress!

 

For example, Ashland HEAL launched its Community Garden, which offered a tangible and strategic vehicle for advertising HEAL to the community through designed flyers, community TV ads, and press releases that garnered media coverage. HEAL also helped develop Ashland HEAL's Facebook page as another means to communicate with the community. 

 

Berlin HEAL, along with their many community partners, has turned a dilapidated apartment building and dairy plant into a community-treasured park complete with a community garden, resting benches and children's playground.

 

A case study was developed, featuring the Lakes Region HEAL partners' efforts to transform the Laconia South-End Neighbood's Wyatt Park into a safe recreation and play space that residents can walk to.

 

Nashua HEAL
Nashua HEAL Video

A Nashua HEAL video was produced to document community partners' work to revitalize the city's Heritage Rail Trail. The video features community leaders describing the passion and commitment of coalition partners to create a safe, aesthetically pleasing active transportation corridor for Nashua Tree Streets Neighborhood residents and people who work downtown.

 

HEAL's communications support for these communities helped leverage new partnerships and news stories from local media.

 

In addition to the community-focused communications efforts, the HEAL Home also garnered statewide media coverage when it announced the hiring of its first Active Living Coordinator, Nik Coates. NH Magazine ran a story on the 'Turn a New Leaf' program originally developed by Monadnock HEAL (formerly Cheshire County HEAL). Other media coverage included announcements of the HEAL's Bicycle and Pedestrian Grants and recognition of Nashua's Amherst Street Elementary School, the 2014 HEAL "ED"ies Award winner.

 

Community members in Berlin prepare the raised beds in Friendship Park

While continuing to build partnerships and support programs at the community and state levels, the HEAL Home was developing plans to launch and promote the new HPHP Plan.

 

An ad hoc committee, comprised of HEAL partners, guided HPHP communications efforts. A communications plan was developed, the HEAL brand evolved to include HPHP messaging, and internal and external communications tactics were put in motion to help facilitate HPHP Network engagement.

 

The HPHP Plan was introduced to the media and community-at-large at the 2014 HEAL Conference. Over 140 people attended the conference and 15 media outlets covered the story of the HPHP Plan rollout. Specific tactics included development of the HPHP Plan and Executive Summary, public relations, and updating the HEAL website to include HPHP branding and messaging.

 

A little girl takes the inaugural ride on the trail inside Wyatt Park in Laconia
A little girl takes the inaugural ride on the trail in Laconia's Wyatt Park

This year, we will continue to communicate the HPHP message in order to engage new Network partners, while providing opportunities to facilitate and promote communications about the community and statewide work being conducted by HEAL and its ever-growing network of partners. Below are just a few of the communications efforts we have planned for 2015:

  • Develop additional collateral materials that highlight specific HPHP strategies and objectives that can be customized by our partners to support their own work
  • Write and design case studies for the Round 2 Grantees that, along with the Round 1 Grantee case studies, will provide specific examples of successful healthy eating and active living strategies throughout the state
  • Provide training to our community coalitions on how they can frame messages and develop their own stories to share with media, potential funders, and their community members
  • Continue to develop and streamline our communications infrastructure in order to allow HEAL to provide information that can be distributed through Network channels 
  • Provide coalition members and partners with opportunities to teleconference and attend webinars in order to allow more people to participate in training sessions and networking meetings

We also look forward to providing more technical assistance and training to help engage and empower partners so they can help communicate the message about the HPHP Plan and the great efforts of the Network.

 

D
By Nik Coates

For the first time in its history, HEAL has an Active Living Coordinator which has helped our active transportation work take off. 

Nik Coates, formerly a regional planner who specialized in bicycle and pedestrian planning with communities, started at HEAL in December 2013 and it immediately established our expanding active transportation program.

 

Participants Collaborate in Active Transportation Series Session 2
What is active transportation and why have a program and staff dedicated to it?

 

We define active transportation as any form of travel that is self-propelled, for example walking, cycling, in-line skating, using a wheelchair, or riding a skateboard.

 

In New Hampshire, we currently have an unbalanced transportation system that favors people having to get around by car. This car-centric transportation system facilitates sedentary lifestyles and puts us at an economic disadvantage compared to the states around us.

 

We know that people who feel connected to their communities are more likely to be healthier. Safe and reliable access to transportation choices is essential to people being more connected. We know that people who have more connections to physical activity opportunities nearby are more likely to be physically active. We know that communities that have safer access to walking and bicycling infrastructure are stronger economically because people want to get out and enjoy their communities and shop at local stores, which also results in a more diverse tax base. We know that residents in the highest need communities are most at risk for obesity and chronic disease because NH's transportation system favors those who own personal vehicles and have more available income.

 

Complete Street on North State Street in Concord

HEAL's Healthy People Healthy Places Plan lays out a policy objective that would like to see all New Hampshire communities built to support walking, biking, and other active transportation options. We will be working with our partners to build a statewide advocacy network, increase the amount of public support for active transportation investment, establish communities of need as a criteria in NHDOT's Transportation Alternatives Program, and increase the number of active transportation projects that are completed or underway in NH.

 

To advance this work, in 2014 we built our technical assistance program for active transportation which focused on teaching people to do this work in their communities.

 

We held four training sessions that more than 70 people from around the state attended. Topics included:

    1. Active Transportation Orientation
    2. Assessing Walkability and Bikeability and Making Better Planning Decisions
    3. Is Your Community Ready for Active Transportation?
    4. How to Make Local Projects Safer and More Accessible for Pedestrians and Bicyclists 

The materials from those sessions can be found here.

 

We also coordinated and presented a Complete Streets policy keynote and break-out session at the annual NH Planners Association conference and presented an active transportation "TED Talk" and break-out session at the HEAL conference.

 

We administered two grant programs thanks to funding from an anonymous funder of the NH Charitable Foundation.

 

Grants were provided to the following communities:

  • Town of Belmont ($25,000) to support the next phase of development of the Lake Winnisquam Scenic Trail.
  • Greater Nashua YMCA on behalf of the City of Nashua ($25,000) to purchase lighting for the Heritage Rail Trail.
  • Town of Littleton ($25,000) to support the development of a portion of the Ammonoosuc Rail Trail.
  • City of Lebanon ($10,000) to further develop the Mascoma River Greenway.
  • Central New Hampshire Bicycling Coalition on behalf of the City of Concord ($10,000) to place bike lane markings along the US Route 3 corridor and "ride with traffic" signage across the city.
  • City of Manchester ($5,000) for the Connect Manchester Master Plan, a bicycle master plan for the city.
  • Goodwill Industries of Northern New England ($5,000) to support the Recycled Cycles project, which is creating job training solutions for female offenders in New Hampshire through recycling and repairing bicycles.
  • Friends of the Salem Bicycle Pedestrian Corridor ($5,000) to further construct the rail trail as a safer transportation alternative to NH Route 28.
  • Greater Nashua YMCA on behalf of the City of Nashua ($5,000) to conduct an engineering study for a connection of the Heritage Rail Trail to the Mine Falls Park trail system.
  • Town of Warner ($5,000) to build the first � mile section of the Concord and Lake Sunapee Trail system in Warner.

Our staff also chaired the NH Department of Transportation Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Advisory Committee (BPTAC). The main purpose of the BPTAC is to represent the interests of bicyclists and pedestrians in advising the NHDOT Commissioner on all matters pertaining to bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and its planning, design, accessibility, use, and investment. 

 

The committee made gains this year, including:

  • A rumble strips policy recommendation for NHDOT (which was adopted with amendments)
  • A recommendation to adopt a statewide complete streets policy
  • A recommendation relating to Transportation Enhancement funded  projects
  • Purchase of a dataset from Strava to establish a baseline of people getting around by walking and bicycling
  • Establishment of a pilot project to measure the Level of Traffic Stress and to use the methodology as a planning tool that communities can use in the future to understand the broken links in the transportation system and identify ways that the links can be fixed

Ongoing projects that are scheduled to be complete or advanced further in 2015 include:

  • Updating the State Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan
  • Developing a lane marking policy recommendation for the Commissioner
  • Creating a guide for residents who want to learn how to get involved in NHDOT and local transportation projects as a way to improve bicycle and pedestrian access
  • Developing a data collection ("counting") program to check/augment the Strava data purchase  and to measure activity in order to help justify future infrastructure investment

Two other "wins" that HEAL staff had in working with DOT this year include the adoption of equity criteria in the focus of the Transportation Alternatives Program and equity criteria in the evaluation of locations for the national Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Assessment initiative.

 

We look forward to working with partners and communities in 2015 on advancing active transportation options across the state. Next up will be our training sessions scheduled for February through October. More information on the sessions will be posted to the HEAL website soon. As always, if you are looking for resources for your work, please check out the HEAL Active Transportation website or contact Nik Coates at [email protected] or at 415-4263.

 

Funding for HEAL is provided by:

 

HNH Foundation

Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield Foundation

Endowment for Health

NH Charitable Foundation

NH Department of Health and Human Services

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation

 

About HEAL

HEAL envisions a New Hampshire where all residents enjoy health and quality of life through healthy eating and active living.

Our core mission is to work in collaboration with our partners to inspire, advance and support policies, systems and environmental changes to promote healthy people in healthy places throughout New Hampshire.    

HEAL started in 2008 and is led by the Foundation for Healthy Communities, a non-profit New Hampshire organization focused on improving health and health care through innovative partnerships.

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