Communities

At a Glance

Percentage of children and adolescents who are overweight or obese:

47%

Demographic Profile:

White (77%), Latino (9%), African American (7%), Asian Pacific Islander (6%)

Income below the federal poverty line:

13%

Language other than English spoken at home:

28%

Population:

77,478

Students who are English-language learners:

50%

Somerville, MA

Lead Agency

City of Somerville Health Department

About
Summary
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About

Somerville is a small but densely populated city immediately abutting Boston. It has both an urban and suburban feel: per-capita income below the state average and increasing numbers of families living in poverty, balanced by vibrant neighborhoods, well-maintained sidewalks and many parks and playgrounds.

For much of a decade, the city has been at the forefront with initiatives promoting healthy eating and active living. These have been propelled by an engaged community, a highly supportive mayor and many public and private partners. Somerville continues to receive national attention for its efforts to combat obesity and to advance a healthy lifestyle.

Under Mayor Joseph Curtatone's leadership, the city has worked with Tufts University to create and maintain the Shape Up Somerville project, a campaign to improve access to affordable healthy foods and to increase opportunities for physical activity. Officials plan to use the Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities funding to expand Shape Up Somerville to promote environmental and policy changes across public health, planning, parks and recreation, education, active transportation, community development and social services, especially to benefit the children, teens and families at highest risk for obesity.

Its proposed activities include recruiting older youth to help lead special "Walk/Ride Days" with younger students, promoting "doggy bag options" at participating restaurants and training a "green team" to inventory local playgrounds for safety and design.

Yet even in Somerville, which is far ahead of so many communities, mayoral aide Jessie Baker still wonders about the cultural change its partnership's work is trying to achieve. "How do we change zoning?" asks Baker, who currently heads the project planning. "How do we change the thinking around transportation to encourage healthy eating, and how do we change the decisions that officials make?" And, just as importantly, "how do we fully engage our community so this is not solely a top-down initiative?"

These aren't questions simply for the here and now, she knows. "The challenge will be to think this out for the long term and figure how to sustain the culture change in the years and decades ahead."

Summary

The purpose of the project is to increase opportunities for healthy eating and active living for low-income children and their families. Some deliverables include: an expanded number of the Shape Up Somerville approved restaurants, an advocacy campaign focused on locating food markets in underserved neighborhoods like Winter Hill and East Somerville,, developing infrastructure and policies to sustain farmers’ markets, ensuring transit-oriented development around coming transit stations, providing Walk/Ride Days and venues, enhancing policy and infrastructure related to streetscapes, creating a coordinated agenda for use of parks and open space with an emphasis on playground and schoolyard design, and exploration of citywide health promotion policies such as menu labeling or a trans fat ban.

News

Image Gallery

En Espanol

Somerville es una ciudad pequeña, pero con numerosos habitantes que colinda con Boston. Tiene un aire urbano y suburbano: el ingreso per capita debajo del promedio del estado y un creciente número de familias viviendo en la pobreza se mantiene en equilibrio con vecindarios de gran actividad, aceras bien cuidadas y muchos parques y patios de recreo.

Por más de una década, la ciudad ha estado al frente con iniciativas que promueven la alimentación saludable y la vida activa. Éstas fueron propulsadas por una comunidad comprometida, un alcalde muy compasivo y muchas asociaciones públicas y privadas. Somerville continúa recibiendo la atención nacional por sus esfuerzos por combatir la obesidad y avanzar a un estilo de vida saludable.

Bajo el liderazgo del alcalde Joseph Curtatone, la ciudad trabajó con la Universidad Tufts para crear y mantener el proyecto Shape Up Somerville (A ponerse en forma Somerville), una campaña para acceder a alimentos saludables y asequibles y para incrementar las oportunidades para realizar actividad física. Los encargados planean utilizar el subsidio Niños saludables, comunidades saludables para expandir el Shape Up Somerville para promover cambios medioambientales y políticos en salud pública, planeamiento, parques y recreación, educación, transporte activo, desarrollo comunitario y servicios sociales, especialmente para beneficiar a los niños, adolescentes y familias con alto riesgo de obesidad.

Entre sus actividades propuestas están reclutar a jóvenes mayores para ayudar a dirigir “Días de bicicletas/caminatas” especiales con estudiantes más jóvenes, promover las opciones de comida sobrante para llevar en los restaurantes que participan y entrenar a un “equipo ecologista” para hacer un inventario en los patios locales con respecto a la seguridad y el diseño.

Aún incluso en Somerville, que está más adelantada que muchas otras comunidades, la asesora del alcalde, Jessie Baker, se pregunta sobre los cambios culturales que el trabajo de su sociedad intenta lograr. “¿Cómo cambiamos la planificación urbana?”, pregunta Baker, quien actualmente dirige el plan del proyecto. “¿Cómo cambiamos el pensamiento sobre el transporte para alentar la alimentación saludable y cómo cambiamos las decisiones que toman los funcionarios?” E igualmente importante “¿Cómo comprometemos por completo a nuestra comunidad para que ésta no sea sólo una iniciativa jerarquizada?”

Baker sabe que éstas no son preguntas de la actualidad. “El desafío será pensar en esto a largo plazo y descifrar cómo preservar el cambio cultural en los años y décadas que se avecinan”.

Datos clave

Población: 77.478
Perfil demográfico: Blancos (77%), Latinos (9%), Afroamericanos (7%), Isleños asiáticos del Pacífico (6%)
Idiomas hablados en el hogar, además de ingles: 28%
Ingresos bajo la línea federal de pobreza: 13%
Estudiantes del idioma Inglés: 50%
Porcentaje de niños o adolescentes con sobrepeso u obesos: 47%

Community Map

“The challenge will be to think this out for the long term and figure how to sustain the culture change in the years and decades ahead.”

Jessie Baker, project director