Place Matters: The California Endowment's Experience with Environmental Approaches to Obesity Prevention

The California Endowment has been dedicating efforts to the prevention of obesity by investing in policy, systems and environmental change. These efforts have centered on increasing access to healthy foods and physical activity opportunities in low-income and minority communities; who have been hardest hit by the obesity epidemic and who have the least resources to support healthy lifestyle choices. In 2005, The California Endowment funded the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program (CCROPP) to work in Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced and Tulare counties. These counties represent a region that is largely rural, largely impoverished and lacks many basic infrastructure items such as access to healthy food outlets, sidewalks, street lights, parks and other items vital to obesity prevention. CCROPP's design is to demonstrate that a collaborative approach between Public Health Departments and Community Based Organizations and grassroots community members can change environmental risk factors affecting Central California's communities. CCROPP seeks to create momentum to change social norms about healthy eating and physical activity, much in the way that social norms have changed about smoking. The presenter will describe their work with CCROPP as well as share examples of successful advocacy-driven policy changes realized by their efforts. Valuable lessons learned in the provision of support, technical assistance and training to accelerated program implementation in will be discussed.