Articles/Interviews
New Research on Community Gardening Reveals the Roots of Emotional and Physical Health
Remember how good it felt to get your hands in the dirt, to run through the sprinkler, and get pollen from a sweet-smelling flower on your nose? Most kids who grow up in cities today never have this experience. But the latest research aims to change all that.
Protecting Children from Harmful Food Marketing: Options for Local Government to Make a Difference
This article focuses on policy options for municipalities that are seeking ways to limit harmful food marketing at the community level.
Fact Sheets
Implementing Strong Nutrition Standards for Schools: Financial Implications
The "Implementing Strong Nutrition Standards for Schools: Financial Implications" fact sheet summarizes the existing evidence of the financial impact on schools that have implemented strong nutrition standards.
Guides
Health Impact Assessment: Guide for Practice 
The awareness and use of HIA in the United States is rapidly increasing, and this Guide aims to support practitioners in the field, by describing the key tasks and activities for HIA as well as the issues and challenges that arise in the course of practice.
Journal Articles
Network for a Healthy California: Evaluation Results of Multi-level Nutrition Education through SNAP-Ed
The Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior has a summer supplement entitled Network for a Healthy California: Evaluation Results of Multi-level Nutrition Education through SNAP-Ed. It describes California's statewide social marketing campaign, funded primarily using SNAP-ed funds and run by the CA Dept of Public Health (and Sue Foerster).
Physical Activity and Food Environments: Solutions to the Obesity Epidemic
This article is a status report on research on physical activity and food environments, and it suggests how these findings can be used to improve diet and physical activity and to control or reduce obesity.
Pricing and Promotion Effects on Low-Fat Vending Snack Purchases: The CHIPS Study
This study examined the effects of pricing and promotion strategies on purchases of low-fat snacks from vending machines.
Literature Review on Strategies for Healthy Vending
This literature review was compiled by the San Diego and Imperial Regional Nutrition Network.
Newsletters
Salud America!: Tackling Latino Child Obesity in the Kitchen, Church & Community
Find out the latest in Latino childhood obesity policy, news and updates on Salud America!, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) network to prevent obesity among Latino kids.
Issue Briefs
CDC: The Guide to Community Preventive Services
The Guide to Community Preventive Services is a free resource to help you choose programs and policies to improve health and prevent disease in your community.
Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies
The IOM reviewed factors related to overweight and obesity from birth to age five, with a focus on nutrition, physical activity, and sedentary behavior. In this report, the IOM recommends actions that healthcare professionals, caregivers, and policymakers can take to prevent obesity in children five and younger.
Local Government Actions to Prevent Childhood Obesity
The Institute of Medicine's Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention Actions for Local Governments was convened to identify promising actions that local governments can take to curb obesity among children.
Presentations
Promoting Healthy Eating Habits through Converting City-Operated Vending Machines
The City of Baldwin Park is at the forefront in establishing policy that is innovative yet remains true to the needs of our community. The first municipality in the State to implement the healthy policy and the first City to open a healthy facility in the San Gabriel Valley.
Profiles/Case Studies
Creating Healthy Communities - Success Stories from ACHIEVE
Download the "Creating Healthy Communities - Success Stories from ACHIEVE" document to read about the impact of ACHIEVE policy and environmental change efforts in communities.
After School Snacks Policy for Cleveland County
Faith-Based Healthy Food Policy for Cleveland County
Community Gardens Project in Harris County
ACHIEVE provided start up money to local community centers and elementary schools to construct community gardens. (PowerPoint Presentation)
Mobile Farm Stand in Cleveland County
Reports
CDC's BRFSS Annual Survey Data
CDC's Behavioral Surveillance Branch is pleased to announce the release of the 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data.
Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies
The IOM reviewed factors related to overweight and obesity from birth to age five, with a focus on nutrition, physical activity, and sedentary behavior. In this report, the IOM recommends actions that healthcare professionals, caregivers, and policymakers can take to prevent obesity in children five and younger.
F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2011 - Trust for America's Health
Trust for America’ Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released the eighth annual F as in Fat – How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2011 report. This year’s report examines, for the first time, state-by-state obesity rates over the past twenty years.
Healthy Food, Healthy Communities: Promising Strategies to Improve Access to Fresh, Healthy Food and Transform Communities
This report takes a closer look at the impact of the food access gap and ongoing strategies to develop new grocery stores, help existing grocers, farmers’ markets, bodegas, corner stores, and other local food retailers expand their healthy food choices.
Making the Case to Stakeholders: Linking Policy and Environmental Strategies to Health Outcomes
This guide was designed to assist communities to better understand potential outcomes of the policy and environmental change objectives targeting healthy eating and active living.
National Prevention Strategy
On June 16, 2011 the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council, announced the release of the National Prevention Strategy, a comprehensive plan that will help increase the number of Americans who are healthy at every stage of life.
Prevention for a Healthier America: Investments in Disease Prevention Yield Significant Savings, Stronger Communities
Trust for America's Health concludes that an investment of $10 per person per year in proven community-based disease prevention programs could yield net savings of more than $2.8 billion annually in health care costs in one to 2 years, more than $16 billion annually within 5 years, and nearly $18 billion annually in 10 to 20 years (in 2004 dollars).
Recommended Community Strategies and Measurements to Prevent Obesity in the United States
This report describes the expert panel process that was used to identify 24 recommended strategies for obesity prevention and a suggested measurement for each strategy that communities can use to assess performance and track progress over time.
Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity within a Generation: The White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity Report to the President
President Barack Obama established the first-ever Task Force on Childhood Obesity to develop and implement an inter-agency plan that details a coordinated strategy, identifies key benchmarks, and outlines an action plan to end the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. The goal of the action plan is to reduce the childhood obesity rate to just five percent by 2030.
State Initiatives Supporting Healthier Food Retail: An Overview of the National Landscape
The report provides readers with useful information about the rationale for and characteristics of healthier food retail legislation enacted in the last decade. The report also provides public health practitioners and their partners with potential action steps that can be used to inform and educate others about the benefits of improved access to fruit and vegetables and other healthier foods through Healthier Food Retail initiatives in their state. Gain insight into what's happening around the country by reading this report and find out what legislation in your state supports a healthier food retail environment.
Strategies for Enhancing the Built Environment to Support Healthy Eating and Active Living
This report, developed by Prevention Institute, outlines a range of organizational practices and public policies being considered to improve the built environment in support of healthy eating and regular physical activity.
Urban and Environmental Policy Institute: How Transportation Impacts Access to Healthy Food
The Urban and Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI) in conjunction with Esperanza Community Housing Corporation and the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles analyzes food access in the context of transportation in South Los Angeles.
Why Place & Race Matter
A new report, Why Place and Race Matter, makes the undeniable case that race must be central to the decisions made by policymakers, advocates, and community leaders if we ever hope to close the racial health gap.
Tools
CDC's CHANGE Tool - Healthy Communities Program
The CHANGE tool helps community teams (such as coalitions) develop their community action plan. This tool walks community team members through the assessment process and helps define and prioritize possible areas of improvement. Check out the Spanish CHANGE Tool Resources.
Food for the Parks: A Roadmap to Success
Functioning as a toolkit, this report contains strategies and helpful quantitative examples to apply to park concessioners’ sustainable food programs.
Videos
The Obesity Epidemic (produced by CDC)
This video explains the many factors that have contributed to the obesity epidemic, and showcases several community initiatives taking place to prevent and reduce obesity.
Webinars
Preemption and Public Health
NPLAN, in collaboration with the Public Health Law Center, hosted a webinar to train public health professionals on preemption concepts. NPLAN has developed several resources that provide public health professionals with the basics of preemption.
