The Capital Region Healthy Communities coalition of Dane County, Wisconsin, has received a $130,000 grant from the American Planning Association through its Plan4Health program to combat two determinants of chronic disease—lack of physical activity and lack of access to nutritious foods.
Plan4Health is a 15-month program that strengthens the connection between planning and public health. Seventy-five percent of the program’s funding supports local and state coalitions working to advance public health through better planning and partnerships. The program is implemented in partnership with the American Public Health Association (APHA) and represents a major new collaboration between planners and public health professionals. Funding for Plan4Health was provided through a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“This is an exciting new opportunity to improve the health of our communities through diverse partnerships,” said Anna Ricklin, AICP, manager of APA’s Planning and Community Health Center. “Collaboration is key if we want to continue to create communities of lasting value that are equitable and healthy for all residents.”
Eighteen coalitions were selected for the Plan4Health program after a competitive review process. The program is being administered through APA’s Planning and Community Health Center that is dedicated to integrating community health issues into local and regional planning practices by advancing research, outreach, education and policy.
Capital Region Healthy Communities
Dane County, Wisconsin
The Dane County Capital Region Healthy Communities (CRHC) initiative pursues three strategies to increase physical activity and access to nutritious food: 1) Increase the capacity of communities to become more friendly to walking and biking; 2) Increase capacity of communities located in South and Southwest Madison area food deserts to provide healthy food; and 3) Increase capacity of local and statewide partnership of planning and public health professionals to incorporate health into planning.
Coalition partners include:
• Capital Area Regional Planning Commission (Lead Agency)
• American Public Health Association – Wisconsin Chapter
• Madison Area Transportation Planning Board (Region’s MPO)
• Public Health Madison & Dane County
• UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health
• UW-Madison Dept. Urban and Regional Planning
• City of Madison – Planning, Neighborhood Resource Teams
• Childhood Obesity Prevention Collaborative of Dane County
• Allied Community Cooperative/Dane County TimeBank
• South Madison Farmers Market
• City of Middleton
• City of Monona
• City of Fitchburg
• Village of DeForest
In addition to Capital Region Healthy Communities being selected, the following 17 coalitions also received funding:
1. Eastern Highlands Health District Community Health Response Team; Eastern Highlands, Connecticut
2. Healthy Savannah, Inc.; Chatham County, Georgia
3. Health Transformers; Vista Neighborhood, Boise, Idaho
4. B-Well Bensenville Plan4Heath Coalition; Bensenville, Illinois
5. Kane County Planning Cooperative; Kane County, Illinois
6. Reach Healthy Communities; Columbus, Indiana
7. Health by Design; Indianapolis/Marion County, Indiana
8. Planning Healthy Iowa Communities; Linn County, Iowa
9. Kenton County Plan4Health Coalition; Kenton County, Kentucky
10. Inner Core Community Health Improvement Coalition; Metro Boston, Massachusetts
11. Healthy Eating, Active Living Partnership – Active Living Workgroup; St. Louis, Missouri
12. Plan4Health – Nashua, an initiative of the Greater Nashua Public Health Network; Nashua,
New Hampshire
13. Trenton Healthy Communities Initiative; Trenton, New Jersey
14. Live Well Kingston; Kingston, New York
15. Columbus Public Health – Chronic Disease Prevention Advisory Board; Columbus, Ohio
16. Plan 4 Health Summit County; Summit County, Ohio
17. Austin-Vámonos Rundberg Coalition; Rundberg Neighborhood, Austin, Texas