Environmental Nutrition and Activity Community Tool: Influencing healthy eating and physical activity through policy and organizational practice change

The field of chronic disease prevention is increasingly recognizing the influence of the environment in shaping eating and physical activity behaviors. Prevention Institute developed the Environmental Nutrition and Activity Community Tool (ENACT) to stimulate environmental change on a local level in order to improve opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity, particularly in underserved communities.

ENACT gives community leaders a practical tool to assess their local nutrition and physical activity environments, prioritize strategies for change, and use the resources provided as starting points towards policy implementation. The tool offers an array of achievable strategies for making improvements to eating and activity environments in seven sectors including: communities, schools, childcare and preschool settings, after school programs, workplace environments, health care, and government. As an online resource, ENACT is continually updated to provide practical "how-to" information to complement each strategy, including successful policies and programs, hands-on tools, data & evaluation, publications, and other resources. Successful local polices are available in a searchable database that includes the actual policy language and an analysis of the health implications for each policy.

This presentation will introduce people to the tool and emphasize some of the most promising strategies for influencing eating and activity. This session will also highlight several relevant success stories and model policies included in ENACT and its companion tool, the ENACT Local Policy Database.