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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Jennifer Kenny, BS¹, Cynthia Malinen, MA¹, and Allison Topper, MS². (1) Bureau of Chronic Diseases and Injury Prevention, Pennsylvania Department of Health, 1011 Health & Welfare Bldg., Commonwealth Avenue and Forster Street, Harrisburg, PA 17120, 717-346-3974, jekenny@state.pa.us, (2) Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Activity, 777 W. Harrisburg Pike, Educational Activities Bldg, Middletown, PA 17057

How we plan and build our communities has a serious impact on the health of citizens. Almost 30% of children are overweight or at risk for overweight, in large part as a result of physical inactivity. Studies demonstrate that people are more likely to achieve physical activity recommendations if they have access to affordable recreation or can incorporate activity into their daily routine.

Pennsylvania has a growing inventory of parks and recreation facilities that provide a supportive infrastructure to promote activity. By building relationships between health, education, and recreation professionals, Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Activity (PANA), in partnership with the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Conservation and Natural Resources, and the Pennsylvania Recreation and Park Society, developed a campaign called Keystone Active Zone (KAZ) that promotes close to home parks and trails as great places for physical activity.

The unique, multi-sector partnerships of KAZ enable communities to increase awareness and promote usage of local parks and trails. PANA provides annual training and mini-grants for county-level partnerships to help them implement the campaign. PANA also provides resources for local partnerships to meet local needs, including a central web portal for searching local parks and trails by activities and amenities; a template map for each county to print and distribute; a promotional summer passport program for schools, summer camps, worksites, and senior centers; a county-based implementation guide; and on-going technical assistance. Pilot evaluation results from the first implementation year will be discussed; currently, 23 of 67 counties participate in KAZ.

Learning Objectives:

• 1) Articulate the benefits of a collaborative, multi-sector approach to implementing public health initiatives to prevent childhood obesity.
• 2) Identify key steps to developing successful multi-sector partnerships with diverse, non-traditional agencies.

Keywords: Physical Activity, Partnerships

Related Web page: www.keystoneactivezone.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation