Community-Wide Planning Grants
The Foundation's Community-Wide Planning Grants are designed to assist towns in creating comprehensive, town-wide plans for addressing childhood obesity.
Congratulations to Framingham, Franklin and Northborough, the first set of MetroWest towns to participate in this grant program!
Check this page regularly for new information, resources and updates!
PLANNING GRANTS: General Information
We invite you to learn about the Planning Grant Guidelines and Activities
Current grantees can check here for Foundation Deadlines and Expectations for these grants
STEP 1: Coalition Building
Building a coalition of key stakeholders and committed community members is the first step in your planning grant activities. Check the links below for information on this topic:
Coalition Building: What is it? Why do we take a community based approach?
Tracking Members: Keep track of potential coalition members and key contacts here
Leadership Style: What kind of leader are you?
STEP 2: Needs Assessment
A Community Needs Assessment will help paint a picture of the assets and challenges in your town that contribute to childhood obesity. Check the links below for information on this topic:
Community Needs Assessment: What is it? How does it work?
STEP 3: Creating a Strategic Plan
Once you have completed your Needs Assessment it is time toanalyze the results and prioritize 3-5 activities that you think would have a positive impact on childhood obesity in your town.
RESOURCES FOR REVIEW
Programs & Toolkits:
Grocery Store Attraction Strategies: A Resource Guide for Community Activists and Local Governments
This guide provides a wealth of resources to help underserved neighborhoods organize a coordinated strategy to attract or develop grocery stores.
Healthy Food Retailing Toolkit
This tool focuses on increasing access to retail outlets that sell nutritious, affordable food in low-income communities of color.
This resource lists a comprehensive set of tools to ensure that investment benefits residents, businesses and institutions; links residents to regional economic opportunities; fosters participation of low-income communities and communities of color in local and regional planning decisions; and addresses gentrification to avoid residential displacement.
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is a nonprofit organization working with communities to preserve unused rail corridors by transforming them into trails, enhancing the health of America's environment, economy, neighborhoods and people.
National Center for Safe Routes to School
Learn about how the National Center for Safe Routes to School assists communities in enabling and encouraging children to safely walk and bike to school.
The John C. Stalker Institute of Food and Nutrition uses current research and technology to educate and inform Massachusetts professionals concerned with child nutrition and healthy nutrition environments.
Publications:
Designed for Disease: the Link Between Local Food Environments and Obesity and Diabetes
A landmark study by PolicyLink, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, and the California Center for Public Health Advocacy shows the state’s first direct correlation between where you live and your risk for obesity or diabetes. The study examines the correlation between the health of nearly 40,000 Californians and the mix of retail food outlets near their homes. The key finding: people living in neighborhoods crowded with fast-food and convenience stores but relatively few grocery or produce outlets are at significantly higher risk of suffering from obesity and diabetes. ( Click here to view a "Detailed Methodology" and click here for a one-pager of "Policy Recommendations" based on the study).
The Impact of the Built Environment on Health
The way we plan, shape and create our urban environment impacts the health of the people who live, work, play and move through these communities. The symptoms of poorly planned neighborhoods are often poor health outcomes. Communities of color and low-income communities face disproportionably greater health impacts related to poor land use planning. There is an effort, by the field of public health, to integrate health considerations into planning and land use to yield improved health outcomes. This report provides both a framework for understanding the necessary elements for building a movement for policy change and better planning, as well as numerous illustrations of innovative practices, projects and networks of advocates and professionals.
Healthy Food, Healthy Communities: Improving Access and Opportunities Through Food Retailing
This report highlights three promising strategies—and the policies that support them—to bring healthy food options to communities: developing new grocery stores, improving the selection and quality of food in existing smaller stores, and starting and sustaining farmers’ markets.