Healthy Counties Database

NACo’s Healthy Counties Database includes model policies, programs and initiatives that counties nationwide have enacted to promote wellness and help prevent childhood obesity. You can search the database by state and topic, including: Built Environment, Healthy Eating, Healthy Living and Wellness, Interventions for Children, Local Food Systems, Partnership Building, Physical Activity and Schools.  

www.healthycounties.org/database

 Healthy Community Design Video

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have posted a streaming video, Healthy Community Design, that discusses the benefits of walkable communities as they relate to health, the environment, and social interaction. Dr. Howard Frumkin, Director of the National Center for Environmental Health, hosts the video.  A fact sheet is also available.

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces/healthy_comm_design.htm

NGA LAUNCHES INTERACTIVE WELLNESS WEBSITE

Shaping a Healthy America: A Decision Making Guide, assists policymakers in making informed and sound decisions concerning wellness programs. With examples from both the public and the private sector, users can weigh the relative strengths of various policy options and find the best fit for the particular circumstances that each state faces.  The website also includes state-specific and national level data on diet, exercise and expenditures related to obesity.

www.subnet.nga.org/healthyamerica/guide/strategies.html 

ONLINE RESOURCE ON CHILD WELL-BEING

The Annie E. Casey Foundation has launched the Kids Count Data Center, an online database for over 100 measures of child well-being in the areas of: education, employment and income, health and health insurance, population and family characteristics, poverty, youth risk factors and children in immigrant families.

www.kidscount.org/datacenter

FACT SHEETS FROM GENERATIONS UNITED 

GU, in partnership with AARP Foundation, Casey Family Programs, Brookdale Foundation Group, Child Welfare League and Children’s Defense Fund, offers relevant, timely information on state kinship care/grandfamilies, including data, programs and state laws.  

www.grandfactsheets.org 

GU HEALTHY GRANDFAMILIES INITIATIVE
This initiative teaches grandparents about healthy foods and how to access and prepare them for their grandchildren. Supported by the MetLife Foundation, workshops were conducted in Dallas, Texas as part of GU's Healthy Grandfamilies Initiative. http://www.gu.org:80/State12281712.asp

Cooking with Kids

Cooking with Kids engages elementary school children in hands-on learning with fresh, affordable foods from diverse cultures. Students are encouraged to explore many varieties of foods using all of their senses, to have fun, and to exercise choice. This program was chosen as a 2007 national Innovation in Prevention Award winner by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for its efforts in promoting healthy lifestyles in communities.
http://www.cookingwithkids.net

Key Facts about Childhood Overweight in the Latino Community

According to recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) data from 2003-2006, overall rates of childhood overweight are leveling. However, the rate of obesity among Latino children continues to be disproportionately high compared to other American children. This fact sheet shows that obese Latino children are highly likely to suffer from such health complications as low self-esteem, increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension.

http://www.nclr.org/content/publications/detail/52523/

AARP Medicaid Report

This brief examines the extent to which states have balanced the delivery of Medicaid-funded long-term services and supports to people in their homes (or in more homelike settings in their communities) and in institutions. It offers a unique focus on older people and adults with physical disabilities separate from other long-term care populations, such as people with developmental disabilities. The paper explores what states have been able to accomplish under current Medicaid law and addresses the impact of federal policies on state efforts.
http://www.aarp.org/research/housing-mobility/homecare/inb161_ltc.html

FAMILY CARE NAVIGATOR

The National Center on Caregiving at Family Caregiver Alliance has launched a comprehensive online guide intended to help families in all 50 states and the District of Columbia locate government, non-profit and private caregiver support programs. It also includes information on government health and disability programs, legal resources, living arrangements, disease-specific organizations, FAQs, a glossary and more.

http://caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/fcn_content_node.jsp?nodeid=2083

CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH 

EPA’s website has been updated to include information on climate change and health effects on older adults.

www.epa.gov/aging/resources/climatechange/index.htm

FACT SHEETS AND POSTERS ON ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH 

New EPA Aging Initiative Fact Sheets Available

The Aging Initiative has completed five new translations of its fact sheets: Japanese, Tagalog, and Russian translations of Environmental Hazards Weigh Heavy on the Heart; Polish translation of Diabetes and Environmental Hazards; Chinese translation of Women and Environmental Health. These fact sheets outline simple and important preventative steps to reduce exposure to environmental hazards and protect ones' health.  The most requested fact sheet "It's Too Darn Hot: Planning for Excessive Heat Events" and "Beat the Heat", a poster that is available in English and Spanish.  Many of the seven fact sheets have been translated into 15 difference languages including a large font series.

http://www.epa.gov/aging/resources/factsheets/order.htm

Healthy America, Healthy Kids Program 

NGA’s Center for Best Practices has awarded 10 states -- Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia -- $100,000 in funding to develop state strategies to prevent  childhood obesity by instituting social change, leading public-sector policy initiatives and influencing private-sector efforts.  The grants are part of NGA’s Healthy Kids, Healthy America program and supported by CDC and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  A summary of state activities is available.

www.nga.org/center/healthyamerica

Action Kit on Combating Childhood Obesity

Developed by NLC, this action kit for municipal leaders offers a broad range of strategies cities can use to promote physical activity, healthy eating, and access to healthy foods to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic.

 www.nlc.org/iyef/program_areas/youth_development/4968.aspx

Mission: America’s Healthiest Community

The Metro Denver Health and Wellness Commission (MDHWC) is working to make the Denver area America’s healthiest community with a focus on promoting programs and policies that improve physical, environmental and mental health across all sectors of the community.  The Commission, a coalition of over 80 community leaders, produced a strategic plan that includes home, school and employer-based strategies to stem or reverse growth in Colorado’s obesity rate.

www.mdhwc.org/index.htm

Affordable Housing Partnership

Tarpon Spring, Florida’s Affordable Housing Partnership has received ICMA’s Community Partnership Award for an innovative public housing development that turned a crime-ridden neighborhood into a neighborhood with a true sense of community and pride.  Along with developing and managing housing, the Local Community Housing Corporation provides several services that support residents, including a home share program, a senior home repair program and
the cops and kids after-school/summer camp program.

 http://www.icma.org/pm/8909/awardsbooklet.pdf – page 14