Subject: MN PA e-news | August 10, 2010

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Minnesota Complete Streets Coalition Releases Community Toolkits

The Minnesota Complete Streets Coalition has published the first edition of two toolkits to help support local Complete Streets work. The Local Government Toolkit is geared toward local elected officials and city staff while the Local Advocates Toolkit (http://www.mncompletestreets.org/gfx/MnCSLocalAdvocatesToolkit.pdf) is for citizens or community groups. Both toolkits include background on Complete Streets, common steps communities or citizens can take to help make it happen, answers to common questions, and additional resources. The information is geared toward Minnesota and based on the experiences of local and national Complete Streets efforts.

The MN Complete Streets Coalition and partners hope the toolkits prove useful and you will be inspired and empowered to be a champion for Complete Streets in your community! | Minnesota Complete Streets Coalition | Local Government Toolkit | Local Advocates Toolkit

Public Health Law Center Creates Complimentary Complete Streets Factsheets

The Public Health Law Center has created three fact sheets to assist communities interested in Complete Streets. The factsheets include:

  •  Minnesota Complete Streets Policy
  •  Understanding Road Design in Minnesota
  •  Bicyclist and Pedestrian Rights and Responsibilities in Minnesota

Public Health Law Center | Minnesota Complete Streets Policy | Understanding Road Design in Minnesota | Bicyclist and Pedestrian Rights and Responsibilities

APHA Releases Brief on Transportation and Public Health

The American Public Health Association (APHA) released a policy brief on how transportation impacts health costs. The brief outlines actions needed to reinvent the transportation system to better promote health, safety and equity. This policy brief from APHA comes on the heels of Transportation Policy Recommendations from the Center's for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). American Public Health Association | Transportation and Public Health - Reinvent the Transportation System to Better Promote Health, Safety and Equity | CDC's Transportation Policy Recommendations

More States Reach 30 Percent Obesity Rate

Obesity is common, serious and costly. Promote policies and programs at school, at work and in the community that make the healthy choice the easy choice.

The obesity epidemic affects every state, according to a new CDC report. No state met the country's Healthy People 2010 goal to lower obesity to 15 percent. The report also makes recommendations on how to reverse the epidemic.  

New data shows that nine states had an obesity rate of 30 percent or higher in 2009. In comparison, no state had an obesity rate of 30 percent or more in 2000, and only three states reached the 30 percent mark in 2007.

CDC Report Outlines Multiple Solutions
The report recommends individual, community, state and national government efforts.

All people can:
  • Eat more fruits and vegetables and fewer foods high in fat and sugar.
  • Drink more water instead of sugary drinks.
  • Be more physically active.
  • Watch less television.
  • Support breastfeeding.
  • Promote policies and programs at school, at work, and in the community that make the healthy choice the easy choice.
Communities can: 
  • Create and maintain safe neighborhoods for physical activity and improve access to parks and playgrounds.
  • Advocate for quality physical education in schools and childcare facilities.
  • Encourage breastfeeding through peer-to-peer support programs.
  • Support programs that bring local fruits and vegetables to schools, businesses, and communities.
State and local health departments can:
  • Provide supermarkets and farmers' markets with incentives to establish their businesses in low-income areas and to offer healthy foods.
  • Expand programs that bring local fruits and vegetables to schools, businesses, and communities.
  • Support hospital programs that encourage breastfeeding.
  • Adopt policies that promote bicycling and public transportation.
CDC Vital Signs | US Obesity Trends | Physical Activity Guidelines | Recommended Community Strategies and Measurements to Prevent Obesity

"Putting Smart Growth to Work for Rural Communities" Report

The International City/County Mangagement Association (ICMA) has released a new report, “Putting Smart Growth to Work in Rural Communities,” which focuses on how to adapt smart growth strategies to rural communities. Funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Sustainable Communities, the report examines the challenges rural communities face, including rapid growth at metropolitan edges, declining rural populations, and the loss of working lands. It highlights smart growth strategies that can help guide rural growth while preserving the unique rural character of existing communities.

The report focuses on three central goals: 1) support the rural landscape by creating an economic climate that enhances the viability of working lands and conserves natural lands; 2) help existing places to thrive by taking care of assets and investments such as downtowns, Main Streets, existing infrastructure, and places that the community values; and 3) create great new places by building vibrant, enduring neighborhoods and communities that people, especially young people, don’t want to leave. Featuring case studies from across the country, the report highlights how local governments, states, and non-profits have successfully implemented smart growth strategies to support rural lands, revitalize existing communities, and create great new places for residents and visitors. The report includes supporting walkable and bikeable communities.

Putting Smart Growth to Work in Rural Communities Report | International City/County Management Association

Physical Activity and Healthy Eating in Minnesota: Addressing the Root Causes of Obesity Report

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Health released a report that reveals new insights about Minnesota’s obesity problem among adults and obesity’s two preventable causes: physical inactivity and unhealthy eating.

The report, “Physical Activity and Healthy Eating in Minnesota: Addressing Root Causes of Obesity,” concludes that Minnesotans know they need to lose weight and many are trying, but individual attitudes and their surroundings are barriers to their success.

The report offers hope, that by intervening in a variety of ways and in multiple settings — where people live, work and play — it will be easier for people to make the healthy choice and lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.

Key report findings include:
  • A majority of overweight and obese Minnesotans are trying to lose weight.
  • Most Minnesotans don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables.
  • Minnesota workplaces can help employees move more and eat better.
  • Most Minnesotans want their communities designed to help people be more active.
  • Minnesota health care providers have a unique opportunity to actively support and provide weight loss/management resources to patients.
Physical Activity and Healthy Eating in Minnesota: Addressing the Root Causes of Obesity Report | Minnesota Department of Health | Prevention Minnesota 

TFAH Releases "F as in Fat" - 2010 Report

Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has released the seventh annual obesity report, F as in Fat:  How Obesity Threatens America’s Future- 2010.  The report and supporting materials, including state-specific releases, is now available online.

This year’s report once again provides annual rates and rankings of adult obesity in the 50 states and District of Columbia, and includes how many states’ obesity rates increased in the past year, a review of trends over time, a public opinion survey about childhood obesity, a review of obesity policies, and recommendations for ways to fight America’s growing obesity crisis and to address the epidemic as part of health reform.  This year’s report also highlights obesity rates for Blacks, Latinos, and Whites by state.

The report notes that Minnesota has passed Complete Streets legislation, which aims to ensure that all users - pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities - have safe access to a community's streets.

It further identifies key policy recommendations, including:

  • Support obesity- and disease-prevention programs through the new health reform law's Prevention and Public Health Fund, which provides $15 billion in mandatory appropriations for public health and prevention programs over the next 10 years.
  • Continue to invest in research and evaluation on nutrition, physical activity, obesity and obesity-related health outcomes and associated interventions.
F as in Fat Report | Trust for America's Health

Center TRT Launches "RE-AIM Online" Training Module

The Center for Training and Research Translation (Center TRT) announces the launch of its newest web-based training module – RE-AIM Online!   

This module provides instruction and case examples to illustrate the five dimensions of the RE-AIM framework: reach, effectiveness or efficacy, adoption, implementation, and maintenance with applications to behavior change and policy/environmental change interventions.

The goal of RE-AIM is to encourage public health practitioners to consider essential program elements that improve the sustainable adoption and implementation of effective interventions. The RE-AIM framework is useful for planning new interventions, adapting existing interventions, and designing evaluations that assess the potential public health impact of interventions. | RE-AIM Online | Center TRT

Prevention/Health Promotion Council Report

Attached is a copy of the 2010 Annual Status Report National Prevention, Health Promotion and Public Health Council that was released on July 1, 2010. This report outlines the early work developing the National Prevention and Health Promotion Strategy. Principles to guide the strategy include:
  1. Prioritize prevention and wellness
  2. Establish a cohesive federal response
  3. Focus on preventing the leading causes of death, and the factors that underlie these causes
  4. Prioritize high-impact interventions
  5. Promote high-value preventive care practices
  6. Promote health equity
  7. Promote alignment between the public and private sectors
  8. Ensure accountability
The interventions are anticipated to fall into one of these major categories:
  • Policy
  • Systems change
  • Environment
  • Communications and Media
  • Program and Service Delivery
Appendix 2 (pages 14 and 15) outline the work plan and timeline, including when stakeholders and experts can respond to the National Prevention, Health Promotion and Public Health Council. | Executive Order to Establish National Prevention/Health Promotion and Public Health Council

Minnesota Communities for  Lifetime Website Launched

Communities for a Lifetime provides information, resources and assistance to people engaged in collaborative action to improve the quality of life in Minnesota communities for people of all ages and abilities.One aspect of Communities for a Lifetime addresses improvements to physical infrastructure, which includes:

  • Applying universal design principles to built environments, such as housing, parks and trails, and city streets
  • Increasing the variety and affordability of housing, including modification of existing homes and intergenerational living
  • Improving mobility through various forms of transportation, including safe and age-friendly roadways, accessible public transit, and pedestrian and wheelchair-friendly streets

Minnesota Communities for a Lifetime website 

2010 Shape of the Nation Report: Status of Physical Education in the USA

The 2010 Shape of the Nation Report, published by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education and the American Heart Association provides a current picture of physical education (PE) in the American education system. Incremental improvements have been made in the last few years in the number of states that now require PE (17% increase) and student assessment in PE (26% increase). However, the Report shows that more states now allow waivers and exemptions from PE classes (77% increase) and no progress has been made in providing daily physical education in all grades K-12. | 2010 Shape of the Nation Report

What is PE2020?

What should physical education look like in the year 2020 and beyond?

The National Association for Sport and Physical Education's (NASPE) PE2020 initiative seeks to answer this question by inviting physical education teachers, college/university faculty, physical education teacher candidates, K-12 students, parents, school administrators, policymakers, community members, and other key supporters (e.g., public health professionals, medical community) to share visionary thoughts about the future of physical education.

PE2020 is a multi-faceted, two-year initiative. This online forum is just the first phase – but it is the foundation for the entire initiative.  The visions, issues, and viewpoints gathered through PE2020 online will be the basis for the other phases that will include several national forums.

NASPE will revise its strategic plan to address the shared vision that emerges from this process, and we hope that the K-12 and college/university physical education communities will evolve their practices to embrace the vision.

Today, concerns about worsening childhood obesity continue to raise questions about our professional mission.

Through the PE2020 initiative, NASPE seeks to challenge professionals and non-professionals alike to reflect upon physical education.  NASPE wants you to share your views and create opportunities for physical educators to step back from their habitual ways of "doing business" and imagine our profession's future.

  • How can we better serve the needs of students and society in our rapidly changing world?
  • Can teachers structure class experiences in a different or more effective format?
  • What changes need to be made in our schools and in our professional preparation programs?

Addressing these and many other questions will help physical educators remain relevant in today's world and in the lives of the students we serve. | Submit an Essay | NASPE

Bikes Belong Offers Funding for Bicycle Advocacy and Facilities Program

Deadlines for Applications:  August 24, 2009; and November 23, 2009 (reviews apps quarterly)

Bikes Belong, a national coalition of bicycle suppliers and retailers, provides grants to organizations and agencies within the United States that are committed to "putting more people on bicycles more often." Fundable projects include paved bike paths and rail-trails as well as mountain bike trails, bike parks, BMX facilities, and large-scale bicycle advocacy initiatives.  The Bikes Belong Grants Program funds projects in the categories of facilities and advocacy. For the facilities category, Bikes Belong will accept applications from nonprofit organizations whose missions are bicycle and/or trail specific. Bikes Belong will also accept applications from public agencies and departments at the national, state, regional, and local levels; however, these municipalities are encouraged to partner with a local bicycle advocacy group that will help develop and advance the project or program. For the advocacy category, Bikes Belong will only fund organizations whose primary mission is bicycle advocacy.  New organizations that are not yet legally nonprofit organizations may submit an application with the assistance of another nonprofit that has agreed to serve as fiscal agent. Bikes Belong will not fund individuals.  Applicants can request up to $10,000 each. | Bikes Belong Grant Opportunity 

Calendar of Events

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