In Kansas City, Missouri, schools are undertaking a new approach to improving the health of children as well as their families. Dubbed "Food from the Farm," this program is aimed at teaching kindergarteners about healthy foods and healthy eating, providing them with the necessary tools to make the healthy choice. The aim of Food from the Farm is to connect kindergarteners and their families to local farmers as a means to encourage eating local fruits and vegetables and to help kids understand where food comes from.

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.

Local North Carolina-grown fruits and vegetables will be more available, especially to rural communities and low-income residents through new farmers' markets. Teenagers picking up a quick afterschool snack will find healthy items at the convenience store. Children will participate in child-care programs with more physical activity. Mothers will be encouraged and provided the support necessary to breast-feed. Residents will take advantage of new shared-use agreements to exercise at facilities throughout the community.

• In Wood County, 19 new gardens have been created at childcare centers serving 1,800 children. The gardens support early learning about healthy eating and increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables.
• More than 200 second- through fourth-grade students at 10 Wood County elementary schools participated in Fit-tastic, an eight-week afterschool program that helped them develop healthier eating and physical-activity habits.

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 project developed a healthy local food system that addressed underlying inequities that contributed to violence in the underserved Westwood community of Denver.

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.

How communities are designed and function can promote -- or restrict -- physical activity and access to healthy, affordable food options for children and adults. Part of the Healthy, Active Multnomah County "It Starts Here" initiative aims to encourage the community opportunities for kids to be active before, during and after school.