Get on the Map!
We recently participated in an online seminar about using

Community Commons.

Community Commons is an interactive mapping, networking, and learning utility for the broad-based healthy, sustainable, and livable communities’ movement. Registered users have FREE access to:

§  Over 7000 GIS data layers at state, county, zip code, block group, tract, and point-levels.

§  Contextualized mapping, visualization, analytic, impact and communication tools and apps.

§  Searchable profiles of hundreds of place-based community initiatives (multi-sector collaboratives) working towards healthy/sustainable/livable/equitable communities - funded by government and private philanthropy - complete with text & video narratives on "what's working."

§  Peer learning forums in the "interactive commons" with colleagues exploring similar interests and challenges - hosted by leading national Technical Assistance providers.

The Commons is a democratized learning and innovation platform for:

§  enhancing the reach and impact of currently-funded place based investments;

§  applying an asset-based approach to help grow and sustain impact once the funding is over;

§  supporting communities of highest burden who neither have grant financing, nor cohorts.

Community Commons is an initiative of Advancing the Movement, and powered by Institute for People, Place and Possibilities (IP3). In-kind and technical support has come from scores of individuals and organizations around the nation. Early financial support for Advancing the Movement and The Commons was made possible by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kaiser Permanente, Ascension Health, the YMCA of the USA, The Convergence Partnership and IP3 (a partnership of Community Initiatives, the Center for Applied Research and Environmental Studies, and Transtria)

Bronx Health REACH-"The Super Starions" Healthy Eating Challenge

By Diana Johnson

Bronx Health REACH has worked to improve children’s eating habits through a variety of different programs over the years. This year, REACH partnered with Worldways Strategy & Creative to develop a social marketing campaign to encourage students to eat healthy foods. Social marketing, not to be confused with social media, is a framework that can be used to encourage behavior change by using commercial marketing strategies. In this case, REACH developed a healthy eating campaign to “sell” the idea of eating more fruits and vegetables to children aged 8-10 years old. To start, a focus group was conducted with fourth and fifth grade students to get feedback about the best ways to promote healthy eating messages. The children were presented with three different types of characters: Astronauts; Athletes; and Superheroes. The children picked the superheroes and decided the superheroes should look like them and have normal names like students in their classrooms. They also wanted the superheroes to have fruits and vegetables as logos on their outfits. Worldways went straight to work with the feedback the children gave during the focus group and shortly after the Super Starions were born!

The Super Starions, which include Frankie Fruitman, Victor Veggie, and Wanda Water, are the main characters of the campaign that is currently being implemented at PS 218 Rafael Hernandez Dual Language School in the South Bronx. Third grade students were invited to participate in a healthy eating challenge through a series of nine missions to help the Super Starions fight for good health. Posters featuring the Super Starions were placed around the school to remind students to complete their missions and table tents were placed in the cafeteria to prompt the students to make healthy choices.  In addition, the campaign reinforces the nutrition education the children received in the classroom as part of the Johnson & Johnson Obesity Prevention Program.

 “I thought it was something they don’t see every day,” said school nurse Veronica Echols about the healthy eating campaign. “All the kids were enthusiastic about it.” Third grader Alejandra Romero said she learned to eat more fruits and vegetables and especially enjoyed missions that involved some community exploration. “My favorite mission was in the community because I got to try a banana at a healthy cart [Green Cart] by the hair salon,” said Alejandra.

The campaign is being evaluated using pre and post surveys which ask about student’s knowledge, attitudes and behaviors around healthy eating. REACH was recently awarded a grant from the CIGNA Foundation to expand the social marketing campaign to other schools in fall 2012.

Supporter Network: Announcing Community Workshop Series

Note:   The following information was forwarded to the J&J Community Health Care Program by Dave Law, Executive Director at Joy-Southfield Community Development Corporation. To view the full article and all downloads please go to http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/?source=govdelivery. 

Based on the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010, Eat Healthy • Be Active Community Workshops are designed for community educators, health promoters, dietitians/nutritionists, cooperative extension agents, and others to teach to adults in a wide variety of community settings. Each 1-hour workshop includes a lesson plan, learning objectives, talking points, hands-on activities, and handouts. The six workshops, listed below, are now available for download: Enjoy Healthy Food That Tastes Great Quick, Healthy Meals and Snacks Eating Healthy on a Budget Top Tips for Losing Weight and Keeping It Off Making Healthy Eating Part of Your Total Lifestyle Physical Activity Is the Key to Living Well Developed using health literacy principles, the workshops were pilot tested at 10 sites across the United States, including with cooperative extension programs, worksite wellness programs, Head Start parents, and community groups. Pilot testing evaluations indicated that many participants made positive behavior changes in their nutrition choices and increased their physical activity levels after attending the workshops. An evaluation form is included at the end of each workshop so that you can gather feedback from participants. Teach the Community Workshops in your community!

See video Showcasing the real, human impact of the Joy-Southfield Community Development Corporation's Healthy Eating, Activity, Learning (HEAL) Workshops held in Detroit, Michigan. These workshops are supported by Johnson & Johnson's Community Health Care Program.

Blog Submitted by Dave Law, Executive Director,  Joy Southfield Community Development Corporation, Detroit, MI

Lessons from HEY Detroit.  Healthy Empowered Youth in Detroit (HEY Detroit) is a comprehensive program to curb childhood obesity being coordinated by Joy-Southfield Community Development Corporation, with support from Johnson & Johnson, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and numerous other partners.  We recently completed our first family workshop program – Healthy Eating, Activity & Learning (HEAL).  Here are some things we learned.

·         Incentives help – we use progressive incentives for participants, proportionate to the number of workshop sessions attended (up to 6).

·         “Hands-on” is where it’s at – conventional handouts are left behind.  Example - youth enjoyed making food group “bead boxes” (like an abacus) and took them home to help track numbers of servings of different food types.

·         Participants enjoy preparing & eating healthy meals and snacks

·         Youth like physical activity, but if you want to get parents/caregivers involved, you need dancing music.

·         We need to develop incentives for the survey completion, particularly the POST survey.  Mchale Newport-Berra, Trish Hopkins & Susan Eiler did a great job of setting up our database, but we ended up with insufficient data to make significant conclusions about workshop effectiveness, something we plan to correct for our two summer workshops.

·         In the absence of objective data, we received valuable feedback on how to improve the workshops.  We also received a compelling letter from a participant, transcribed here:

May 3, 2011

To Whom It May Concern:

The class was so educational for me and my family.  Each week we learn so many things about the nutrition value and how food can play important role in your family lifestyle.  Last year, I was diagnose with an illness.  This illness was due to poor eating habits that cause fat cells to form bad cells in your body.  The doctor told me to lose weight and change my eating habits.  The class taught us to exercise, cook healthier food, counting calories, how to make choices in a fast-food restaurant, to be more active with your family and how to teach your children that being fit is better than being a couch potato.  I so happy to report me and my family are losing weight and we are much healthier then we once were.  We would like to thank the class and it wonderful staff for their hard work and support.  I feel it couldn’t have come at a better time in my life.  A lot of families would benefit from this program and we hope it come every time for a family to learn and take advantage of this wonderful class.  Thank you, so much, for the wonderful learning opportunity we experience in your class.  Take care and may you be a blessing to anyone who don’t know about how to live a healthy lifestyle. 

Mrs. D.W., HEAL Workshop participant, Winter/Spring 2011