Environment

This report highlights the accomplishments of the Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities (HKHC) community partnerships at the midpoint of the grant program. HKHC works with communities across the country to help reshape environments through policy and environmental change strategies that support healthy living and prevent childhood obesity. The built environment can help or hinder community access for people to engage in healthy behaviors and HKHC places special emphasis on communities with children who are at highest risk of obesity on the basis of income, race/ethnicity and geographic location. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) from 2008-2014, the national program office (NPO) administers HKHC and provides tailored coaching and technical assistance to the 49 HKHC community partnerships.

This Annotated Resource Guide provides a listing of relevant websites, guidance documents, tools, and case studies that may be helpful for community partnerships working in rural areas to facilitate healthy eating and active living.

This annotated photography resource guide offers several tools and instruments that help organizations, communities and individuals in using photography for research and advocacy. 

Maps assign data to a set geographic location.  Additional layers of data (time, distance, change etc.) can be added to provide one of the most effective means to display information.  Maps can be used to show walkability, obesity’s growth over time, social inequity, crime hotspots or personal history.  Communities have more access to free mapping data via major search engine (Google and Bing) while GIS (Geographic Information Systems) data is collected and used by local governments and organizations to better understand communities.  New GIS mapping programs will provide platforms to address social issues and allow organizations or communities create their own mapping system.

This annotated resource guide provides a listing of relevant programs, organizations, tools and presentations intended to support increasing active living via community design.  Policy and environmental changes for the built environment and active living will allow families and children to have access to affordable and healthy choices for their physical activity.