Community organizing for policy change: A complete streets case study in la crosse county, WI

In the recent decade there has been an emphasis on applying a social-ecological framework to such health promotion efforts, and a call for ‘PSE' or policy, systems and environmental changes. As a result, several national agencies, have funded regional projects with such a framework aimed at obesity prevention. Public Health leaders in La Crosse County Wisconsin received such funding, and in 2010, launched a Complete Streets initiative as one of six goals, believing that with new policy mandates, the resulting changes in the built environment would help make ‘the healthy choice the easy choice' for bikers, transit users and pedestrians alike in their County. The purpose of this qualitative research is to provide a case study of the La Crosse County Complete Streets Initiative, describing both the timeline of activities and how those activities align with the Five-Stage Community Organization Model. Participant observation, interviews, and a review of coalition documents and publicly available web material were used to collect data for the case study. The Complete Streets activities, which were carried out by project staff, a core leadership team and various community partners, primarily took place within the context of a two year grant-funded project from March 2010-March 2012, with the bulk happening from August of 2010- August 2011. As a result of the funding and community organizing efforts, policy changes occurred at the county, city and municipality level in La Crosse County. Community Organizing principles, along with implications for practice, research and for funders are discussed.