Healthy Living
Working to create a community based healthy living model that insures that residents and employees can achieve the health they desire.
First Steps
The Foundation adopted a new initiative in September, entitled the Healthy Neighborhood’s Initiative. Five focus neighborhoods in what we call “greater Stapleton” have become more interested in healthy living events and programs over the past three years, ever since the introduction of the Passport to Healthy Living program that was funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This program was directed by the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center (UCDHSC) Departments of Human Nutrition and Family Medicine), and the Foundation. Over the past three years residents have become even more interested in learning more about how to live a healthier life. Therefore, the Foundation Board decided to more clearly prioritize this issue by establishing it as a key initiative within the Foundation.
The first strategic step the Foundation took in 2006 was to join the UCHSC Department of Family Medicine in a grant request to the National Institute of Health (NIH) to develop a baseline study regarding the state of the health of the neighbors in our five focus neighborhoods. The partnership was successful in obtaining a $400,000 two-year grant to complete this study, now called “Taking Neighborhood Health to Heart”. At the completion of the study, the partnership will have collected information from six focus groups, 1,000 interviews, and an environmental scan of all five neighborhoods to establish the baseline study.
Healthy Neighborhood Council
The Foundation is committed to having the community be the primary driver of the strategies, policies and programs of the Healthy Neighborhood’s Initiative. We have established a Healthy Neighborhood Council to insure that the community voice is heard. The Council is comprised of 13 members, seven of which are ex-officio positions, one for each of the five neighborhood organizations, one for Forest City and one for the Foundation. The remaining positions are “at large”. This group meets once a month with the goal of developing strategies to collectively address the “health” concerns and barriers in their communities.
Passport to Healthy Living
Last summer ALPS (Active Living Program of greater Stapleton) hosted the third series of the Passport to Healthy Living Program. The program consisted of a variety of health and fitness sessions with an emphasis on learning how to lead a healthier life. Trained and licensed instructors, and doctors from UCDHSC Family Medicine Department facilitated the sessions. All of these sessions were held at locations within each of the five focus neighborhoods. Participation significantly increased over last year’s Passport series.
Additional healthy living programs co-sponsored by the Foundation were: 1. The “Kids Fitness Day” at Stapleton co-sponsored by Denver Parks and Recreation and the Foundation; 2. A free sports physical at the MLK Recreation Center made possible by the A.F. Williams Family Medicine Center. and 3. a “Healthy Eating” elementary school program at Philips Elementary, funded by grants from Robert Wood Johnson and the Foundation.
Stapleton 2040
Stapleton 2040, a Community-University partnership between the University of Colorado and the Foundation, is a community based participatory research and development enterprise. The core idea is to work together to become a learning community that identifies, designs, and assesses innovations intended to improve health and ultimately answers the questions, “did Stapleton and the surrounding communities become a healthy community, and are they any healthier than would otherwise be expected?”.
be well Passport to Active Living
