Park Hill Thriving Communities—Denver Department of Environmental Health: A community-based initiative to address policy and environmental factors to support healthy eating and active living

Park Hill Thriving Communities (PHTC) is a six-year initiative funded by LiveWell Colorado, an organization that funds community action for healthy eating and active living. The first two years of PHTC focused on programs to engage residents in Denver's Park Hill neighborhood in physical activity, including African dance classes, and bicycle maintenance and safety classes. The next three years have focused on environmental and policy strategies, including major renovation of a local park, establishing the Bike Depot, a new non-profit organization that runs bike education and earn-a-bike programs, and advocacy efforts to address limited access to fresh foods. A new city-wide program to encourage grocery store development in Denver's food deserts was launched early in 2010. Involvement of community residents and partners continues to grow as initiative strategies are implemented. Residents first became involved through a stakeholder Photovoice process, a participatory photographic assessment of healthy eating and active living in the Park Hill community. Informal and formal decision-making methods have enabled residents to respect differing opinions and attain agreement on project direction, resulting in community level change. Advocacy using Photovoice images and themes built collaborative partnerships for action including the efforts described above. Increasing emphasis on policy and environment is designed to promote long-term sustainability, while engaging residents builds enduring community advocacy capacity. Efforts are underway to increase networking and grant writing capacity so that programs continue. Finally, the PHTC approach serves as a “policy incubator” identifying policy initiatives for all of Denver—which once instituted create lasting sustainability city-wide.