With an alarming amount of vacant lots present within their city, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS), along with other community and municipal partners, have developed a program to clean, green, and maintain these vacant lots in order to improve their community and health. In order to provide evidence that improvement of these vacant lots has positive effects on the community and health, PHS began a 10-year long longitudinal study comparing vacant lots against treated lots.
A diverse group of partners in South Los Angeles recently broke ground on a new Wellness Center and healing garden to serve Los Angeles Unified School District students and the surrounding community.
DeKalb County is working toward a healthier community with smokefree parks adn public spaces, safe routes for biking and walking, and improved access to fresh fruits and vegetables for schoolchildren and adults.
Twenty-six municipalities in Arapahoe, Adams and Douglas counties are developing master plans to support healthy eating and active living, including developing sustainable partnerships between schools and parks.
Slavic Village Development (SVD) is a community development corporation located in Cleveland, Ohio that works with the Broadway neighborhood. With a population consisting of mostly working class, middle to lower income families, Slavic Village Development was faced with the challenge of improving a community that undergoing increasing foreclosures and perceptions of a lack of safety. In 2003, SVD received a grant from the Active Living by Design program to begin an initiative to rebrand Broadway as "a community on the move."
This community-driven project engaged a variety of age groups in revitalizing Hunting Park to prevent violence and promote healthy food access through a new community garden and farmers market.
The Communities United for Health coalition formed to create a "healthy zone" in the Shawnee neighborhood by limiting alcohol and tobacco promotional signage, increase adequate lighting, and decrease graffiti to positively influence perceptions of safety.
This project developed a healthy local food system that addressed underlying inequities that contributed to violence in the underserved Westwood community of Denver.
A pilot program to Prevent Violence and Promote Healthy Eating and Active Living focuses on influencing infrastructure and landscaping improvements to improve the health and safety for all residents.
In 2007 the Holyoke Food & Fitness Policy Council (HFFPC), with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, set out to create a more healthy and vibrant Holyoke by developing policies and system changes that improve opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity.
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