Healthy City
2010-2014
Strategies

Projects that seek to effect Policy and Environment Changes
(Updated December 2010; click here for the 2009 version)

1. Reduce the likelihood that adolescents will become involved in gang activity through an aggressive program of education, diversion and engaging them in alternative healthy activities through suppression, prevention, intervention education, community service and reinvention as well as:

·         Anti-bullying policies and education in the Fall River Schools

·         Youth violence prevention

·         Peace initiatives through United Neighbors and Peaceful Coalition

2. Reduce lifetime substance abuse and the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs (ATOD) among youth and adults through comprehensive individual, family and environmental strategies.
3. Ban all tobacco sales in pharmacies and sales of single cigarettes through local ordinances.
4. Increase interventions with smokers through health systems improvements to ensure smokers are advised to quit at every visit.
5. Provide education about tobacco and smoking cessation to children in public schools.
6. Implement a school nurse delivered tobacco cessation intervention in the high school.

1. Develop a robust city-wide, year-around youth recreation and adult fitness system that ensures access to at least 2,000 City residents below 200% of poverty
2. Create and support a sustainable Safe-Routes-to-School system to support walking on the part of 80% of elementary, middle and high school students in public and private schools
3. Advocate for CDA, PARC/LAND and other funding to improve playgrounds in City parks; work for private funding to improve park recreational facilities.

1. Create and support ten school-based and twelve community-based vegetable gardens that involve youth and adults in heart-healthy activity and provide nutritious produce to homeless and low-income populations
2. Create opportunities for the public to learn basic cooking skills through cable television programming and live cooking demonstrations
3. Work with staff of major grocers to promote healthier food choices and provide educational opportunities in the store
4. Provide incentives or resources to farmers to enable the utilization of EBT cards at multiple locations throughout the city (“veggie mobiles”).
5. Provide incentives for healthy food procurement among large local employers
6. Provide multi-language marketing of new Women, Infants and Children (WIC) food package contents, availability of fresh produce city-wide and counter-marketing to oppose sugary beverages and high calorie fast foods and increase breastfeeding through provision of social support.
7. Further expand Healthy Dining program to an additional 40 restaurants city-wide with the addition of children's menu guidelines and standardization of application procedure, create a guide to Healthy Neighborhood Markets, and promote the use of  the Guide to Healthy Meetings and Events in local organizations and worksites.

1. Activate and develop the public school's wellness policy to ensure that 100% of nutrition and physical fitness guidelines are implemented in daily practice system-wide by 2012.
2. Establish linkages between physical fitness providers and physician practice offices to permit physicians to verify participation in physical activity for their patients between visits.

·         Create and distribute prescription pads for non-pharmaceutical interventions

·         Work with Fall River endocrinologists to connect patients with the Fitness Challenge and other fitness and nutrition programs in the City

3. Teach Brief Negotiated Interview techniques to medical practice personnel in hospital emergency departments.
4. Support workplace wellness activity at a minimum of ten larger places of employment, including city government sites (School Dept., Fire/Police, Dept. of Public Works & Government Center), Family Services Association, People Inc, Southcoast Hospitals, Duro Finishing, Lightolier, and the YMCA.

1. Modify built environment planning and construction standards to ensure active living environments in 100% of new built environments city-wide by 2012 by
• Establishing Health Impact Assessment guidelines for the City.
• Placing bicycle racks throughout the city
• Developing the Gateway City Quequechan River project
2. Create a citizen-led advocacy network of over 200 people capable of supporting the development of new urban parks, pathways and open space to meet current and future active living needs.
3. Stimulate  and support advocacy for public transit service improvements and increased access.
4. Develop cohesive plan for access to and education about the bioreserve as a recreation area.

Putnam Conservation Institute

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