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Ladshp fHalhy Cmmus
 Advancing Policies to SupportHealthy Eating and Active Living
 ACtion StrAtegieS tooLkit
 A Guide or Localand State LeadersWorking to CreateHealthy Communitiesand PreventChildhood Obesity
Leadership or Healthy Communities is a national program o the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
 
Leadeshp o Healh Communes
• Action Strategies Toolkit • May 2009
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Dear Colleagues,
You may have heard the prognosis—i the obesity epidemic in America continuesunchecked, this generation o young people may be the rst in U.S. history to livesicker and die younger than their parents’ generation. The magnitude o the epidemicmeans that everyone has a role to play in its reversal, especially because the solutionrequires policy and environmental changes on many levels.For example, while parents can be good role models and create healthy environmentsat home, and the ood and beverage industry can take greater responsibility or thenutritional content o the products it oers and promotes, policy-makers are the oneswho have the power to make important decisions that aect people’s opportunities toeat healthy oods and be physically active within their communities.Research shows that where we live can impact how well we live. Today, many o our communities are unhealthy. Too requently, amilies lack access to ull-service grocerystores that stock aordable healthy oods, and children don’t have sae places to playor even walk. We want to work together to create environments that pave the way or healthier liestyles. Healthy communities provide amilies with convenient access toaordable healthy oods; sae places to walk, ride a bicycle and play; and schools thatoer nutritious oods and plenty o opportunities or physical activity. Across thecountry, policy-makers, community leaders and people in the private sector arecollaborating to build such neighborhoods, but we still have a long way to go.In the United States, more than 23 million children and adolescents are overweightor obese. That means nearly one in three young people are at a higher risk or serious,even lie-threatening health problems, such as asthma, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In addition, it is important to emphasize that childhood obesity rates arehighest among Latino children and Arican-American girls.These trends are likely to create additional pressures on our nation’s overburdenedhealth care system. Studies estimate the obesity epidemic costs the country morethan $117 billion per year in direct medical costs and indirect costs related to reducedproductivity and absenteeism.The need or action is clear.
 
www.leadeshpohealhcommunes.og
 
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To help meet this need, the Action Strategies Toolkit was developed by
Leadership or Healthy Communities
in close collaboration with the ollowing organizations:American Association o School Administrators;
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Council o State Governments;
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International City/County Management Association;
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Local Government Commission;
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National Association o Counties;
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National Association o Latino Elected and Appointed Ocials Educational Fund;
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National Association o State Boards o Education;
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National Conerence o State Legislatures;
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National League o Cities Institute or Youth, Education, & Families;
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National School Boards Association; and
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United States Conerence o Mayors.
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Leadership or Healthy Communities, a national program o the Robert Wood JohnsonFoundation, was created to support local and state leaders nationwide in their eortsto promote healthy, active communities and access to aordable healthy oods. Thestrategies in this toolkit include promising and evidence-based practices that advancethese goals and build upon the work in which policy-makers are already engaged.Through daily decisions about budgets, laws, regulations or zoning, policy-makerscan help develop healthier and more viable communities. For example, governmentleaders can acilitate land-use policies, such as mixed-use development, and supportpublic parks and transit options, including walking paths and bicycle lanes. Theycan create incentives to attract supermarkets and armers’ markets to underservedcommunities and improve the nutritional quality o oods and beverages in schools.Putting the strategies in this toolkit into action will take strong, coordinated leadershipby policy leaders nationwide. Through collaboration among states, counties, cities andschools, policy-makers can meet their constituents’ demand or healthy living as theytake steps to reduce health care costs and improve health care perormance in their communities. As the leaders o policy-maker organizations at every level o govern-ment, we believe that the strategies presented in this toolkit have tremendous potentialto change the trajectory o our children’s uture.
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