148735 Healthy Parks Healthy Communities

Monday, November 5, 2007

Heng Lam Foong , Public Health Sector, Healthy Eating Active Communities, Los Angeles, CA
Marybeth Vergara , Center for Parks and Health, The Trust for Public Land, Los Angeles, CA
Wendy Muzzy , The Trust for Public Land, Boston, MA
Obesity is a known risk factor for chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. The lack of open spaces such as parks and community gardens in urban neighborhoods reduce access to low-cost physical activity venues for adults and for children and lead to increased rates of obesity. Recognizing this crucial link, the Trust for Public Land's Healthy Parks Healthy Communities team devised a multi-prong strategy including cutting-edge GIS mapping of park deficit overlaid with obesity rates in targeted communities; community based trainings aimed at multiple stakeholders including legislatures, health advocates and community organizers to demonstrate the link between park access with physical activity; and provide technical assistance including feasibility research, survey development, polling and campaign strategy, towards the development of public finance measures to acquire infrastructure for urban park development.

Learning Objectives:
1)Describe the link between access to open spaces such as parks and community gardens with rates of physical activity in urban communities. 2)Demonstrate how non-traditional partnerships between land conservation, community based organizations, organizing groups, health researchers and policy advocates can increase awareness and work to develop viable solutions. 3)Share a model project in Santa Ana, California, where community training, organizing and GIS mapping, may lead to the potential development of a public financing measure to acquire and develop an infrastructure for urban parks.

Keywords: Obesity, Policy/Policy Development

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Environment Section Poster Session III
See more of: Environment