Grimes County Physical Activity and Community Engagement (PACE) Project: Increasing Access to Physical Activity in Rural Populations

Background: Grimes County, a small rural county in central Texas, has an overweight/obesity rate of more than 80 percent of the population. In addition, in a recent health assessment residents identified access to safe places to be physically activity (23.7%) and lack of recreational activities (22.8%) as two of the top ten community issues in the county. Methods: To address these issues, the Grimes County Health Resource Commission partnered with the Center for Community Health Development, a Prevention Research Center at Texas A&M Health Science Center, to initiate the Physical Activity and Community Engagement (PACE) project. The project created a workgroup of local community-members to plan and implement activities to increase access to physical activity. Results: The workgroup  implemented three activities: 1) coordinate current physical activity resources in the county; 2) link programs with venues within the county; and 3) increase the number of exercise opportunities available for seniors. As a result, Zumba classes were expanded to different venues with the community, lay leaders were trained to deliver the evidence-based program Texercise, and two Texercise classes were implemented with senior populations. A total of 30 participants were reached throughout the workgroup’s efforts. Conclusion: The presence of the PACE workgroup has encouraged local residents to get physical active, brought recognition to current physical activity options available, and locally sustained its activities.