PARTNERS | HEALTHY CITY  | HOW HEALTHY | VISION | SUMMIT | PRIORITIES | FUNCTIONS | CITY OF FALL RIVER

Strategy One:  Safety & Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug (ATOD) Control  

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.

2. Reduce lifetime substance abuse and the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs (ATOD) among youth through comprehensive individual, family and environmental strategies.  

3. Require a graphic warning sign, in color, at each cash register of all tobacco retailers.  

4. Increase interventions with smokers through health systems improvements to ensure smokers are advised to quit at every visit.  

5. Implement a school nurse- delivered tobacco cessation intervention in the high school.  

Strategy Two:  Recreation & Fitness  

• 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.

• 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  

Strategy Three:  Food Supply & Nutrition  

• 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

• Work with Rodman Street Stop & Shop and other major grocers to improve signage directing customers to healthier food choices and provide educational opportunities in the store 

• Provide incentives or resources to farmers to enable the utilization of EBT cards and food stamps

• Provide incentives for healthy food procurement among large local employers 

• 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

• 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 as well as promote a Guide to Healthy Meetings and Events in local organizations and worksites

Strategy Four: Educational & Medical Policies  

• 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

• Establish linkages between physical fitness providers and physician practice offices to permit physicians to verify participation in physical activity for their patients between visits 

• Teach Brief Negotiated Interview techniques to medical practice personnel 

• Establish workplace wellness activity at a minimum of ten larger places of employment, including city government sites  

Strategy Five:  Built Environment & Advocacy  

• 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.

• 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  

Currently identified efforts to address each of these strategoc priorities are listed on Healthy City 2010-2014 Strategies.. Additional efforts may be identified over time and added to the Plan. Organizations that are included in the Plan will be asked to maintain communication with the Healthy City project and to report their progress.

To see the priority areas for the first five years (2004-2009) of the Healthy City initiative, click here.