Million step challenge: Community, church and city working together to promote healthy behaviors

Chicago’s Washington Heights community, once a thriving, middle class neighborhood, is now a food dessert facing high rates of unemployment, home foreclosures and residents battling chronic diseases. In communities with limited resources, diverse collaboration is vital in addressing these issues.

Healthy Washington Heights Coalition (HWH) is a coalition of organizations and individuals that provide free health information and resources for the people that live, work and worship in the Washington Heights community on Chicago’s far Southside.  HWH is able to carry out its mission through partnerships, health education sessions, awareness activities, community engaged research and activism.

Healthy Washington Heights (HWH) collaborated with Robichaux Park (Park) and Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC) to develop a walking program for TUCC employees, church and community members. The park established the Million Step program in partnership with Walgreens Drug Store to provide incentives for daily walking/physical activity and other healthy behaviors. HWH covered the park registration fee for each walker and recorded the project data.

This presentation will discuss how the partnership between HWH, TUCC and the Park developed, the collaborative process used to develop the walking program, as well as share preliminary data. Speakers will also discuss how the data from this project was used to leverage other activities such as a community garden. Speakers will share successes, challenges and lessons learned from this initiative, as well as discuss subsequent initiatives and next steps.