Mansfield YMCA Selected for Statewide Policy Change Initiative to Reverse Childhood Obesity Epidemic
January 21, 2011
One of 16 communities to join YMCA of the USA’s Statewide Pioneering Healthier Communities, Mansfield YMCA joins a national movement to promote healthier options statewide
Mansfield, Ohio; January 21, 2011. YMCA of the USA, the national resource office for the nation’s 2,687 YMCAs, announced that Richland County has been selected as one of 16 communities in three states to build a statewide network for reducing childhood obesity through its Activate America®: Statewide Pioneering Healthier Communities (PHC) initiative. Y-USA will draw on its successful community-level PHC model, applying its experiences and existing networks of State Alliances to support policy, systems and environmental changes statewide.
Through Pioneering Healthier Communities, local YMCAs serve as “convenors,” bringing together high-level representatives from the government, non-profit, and private sectors to drive meaningful change in each of their communities. PHC focuses on collaborative engagement with community leaders, environmental influences on health and well-being, and the role that public policy plays in sustaining change. The Mansfield YMCA applied for this program and was selected after a competitive review process. As of this summer, there are 164 communities participating in Y-USA’s Healthier Communities Initiatives.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) committed $6.8 million over five years to support the expansion of Y-USA’s PHC initiative. Sixteen communities in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio are the second group funded by RWJF, joining communities in Connecticut, Kentucky and Tennessee that were selected in 2009. The Richland County team will receive funding over a two year period to cover training and seed the implementation of a community action plan.
“Statewide Pioneering Healthier Communities develops policy strategies at the local and state levels to help communities that are most burdened by the childhood obesity epidemic,” said Neil Nicoll, president and chief executive officer, YMCA of the USA. “Statewide PHC extends the mission of the Y beyond our walls, giving back and providing support to our neighbors throughout the community with a proven, community-based model for creating healthier opportunities in order to fight childhood obesity. By connecting the leaders who can affect change, communities are helping to make healthy behaviors an easier choice.”
According to Nicoll, reducing childhood obesity will require the combination of policy and environmental changes. Statewide PHC’s team-based approach allows communities to provide a cohesive response to the lifestyle challenges in communities throughout the nation.
The effective transition of the local PHC model into statewide policy impact will require the coordination and cooperation of many agencies and groups. At the state level, the Ohio Alliance of YMCA’s will engage a team of state policy-makers and leaders to examine existing policies and practices regarding childhood obesity, and to propose a state action plan to respond to the public health challenges of obesity, physical inactivity and poor nutrition. The statewide stakeholder team will work in partnership with the community leadership teams in Ohio to ensure that each community action plan supports statewide efforts.
Locally, Richland County will send lead members from its PHC team, called coaches, to attend a Coaches Meeting in October 2010 in Washington, D.C., to learn methods and strategies for building and facilitating community leadership teams. The complete leadership team will return to Washington, D.C. in February 2011 for a conference at which they will learn strategies for policy and environmental change from the nation’s leading experts in physical activity, nutrition and building healthy environments.
For more information about Pioneering Healthier Communities go to www.ymca.net/activateamerica
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the Y
The Y is the nation’s leading nonprofit strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. Across the U.S., 2,687 Ys engage 21 million men, women and children – regardless of age, income or background – to nurture the potential of children and teens, improve the nation’s health and well-being and provide opportunities to give back and support neighbors. Anchored in more than 10,000 communities, the Y has the long-standing relationships and physical presence not just to promise, but to deliver, lasting personal and social change. ymca.net
YMCA of the USA
YMCA of the USA is the national resource office for the Y, the nation’s leading nonprofit strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. Across the U.S., 2,687 Ys engage 21 million men, women and children – regardless of age, income or background – to nurture the potential of children and teens, improve the nation’s health and well-being and provide opportunities to give back and support neighbors. Anchored in more than 10,000 communities, the Y has the long-standing relationships and physical presence not just to promise, but to deliver, lasting personal and social change. ymca.net
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