For more information call the Health Promotion and Education division at (513) 946-7811

downloads

• Increasing Access to Healthy Foods in Schools
• Strategic Alliance for Health Overview
• Healthy Kids Healthy Communities Overview
• Communities Putting Prevention to Work Overview

links

CDC's Strategic Alliance for Health website Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities CDC's Communities Putting Prevention to Work website WeTHRIVE!

We THRIVE!

We THRIVE!^sm focuses on reducing childhood obesity and other chronic diseases for the residents of Hamilton County. Initiatives aim to protect families by increasing access to healthy foods and opportunities for physical activity and decreasing exposure to tobacco products where they live, work, learn and play. The goal of the We THRIVE!^sm initiative is to make the healthy choice the easy choice by implementing policy, systems and environmental changes to support improved nutrition, increased activity, and decrease chronic disease.

This project is funded primarily by three national grants: CDC's Strategic Alliance for Health, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Healthy Kids Healthy  Communities and CDC's Communities Putting Prevention to Work.

The Need

Chronic disease is the leading cause of death in this country due to specific behaviors such as poor diet and physical inactivity. The chronic disease rates in Hamilton County and across the nation are far too high.

Hamilton County Statistics:

• 22 percent of third-graders are obese – higher than the state average – with African-American and Hispanic children significantly more likely to be overweight.  
• Students in grades K-8 receive an average of 72.7 minutes of physical education per week, well below the national recommendation of 150 minutes per week.
• 24 percent of residents report having had no physical activity during the past month.
• The adult obesity rate is 26 percent.
• Only 8.7 percent of adults consume amounts of daily fruits and vegetables required by the USDA.
• The smoking rate is 30 percent among Hamilton County adults, versus 20 percent for Ohio.

Diseases caused by these behaviors are largely preventable with healthy lifestyle changes such as eating fruits and vegetables and getting regular physical activity.

Making a Difference

Community partners, schools, local businesses and other key stakeholders from across Hamilton County are joining forces to implement evidence-based strategies that promote physical activity, healthy eating and reduced tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke – all lifestyle behaviors associated with obesity, heart disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases. The We THRIVE!^sm initiative is building a solid foundation for sustainable changes by addressing policy, systems and environmental change.

• Providing access to healthy food options through school-based competitive foods policy change, community garden development and fresh markets.
• Developing shared-use agreements for physical activity sites, such as in schools, YMCA locations and faith-based community locations.  
• Creating policies to support 30 minutes of daily physical activity in after-school programs.
• Adopting tobacco-free policies to include outdoor venues, such as community parks and playgrounds.
• Creating pocket parks and enhancing existing parks in communities to increase safe physical activity opportunities.
• Implementing a social marketing campaign to counter negative messaging and promote the value and benefits of healthy eating, physical activity and not smoking.
• Increasing access to fresh food by expanding acceptance of WIC and SNAP vouchers at area farmers' markets.
• Expanding healthy food purchasing power for after school program sites.
• Increasing Safe Routes to School programs to encourage more walking and bicycling. 

Strategic Alliance for Health

Hamilton County Public Health (HCPH) received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as part of the Strategic Alliance for Health, a program focused on training local communities to create policy and environmental changes that address lifestyle behaviors linked to some of the leading chronic diseases impacting our nation’s health. The program, announced September 30, 2008, is part of a larger $25 million CDC investment in local community efforts to reduce the burden of chronic diseases across the nation. The Strategic Alliance for Health, branded locally as the We THRIVE! initiative provides five-year funding awards to nine communities across the United States. Communities will develop specific strategies that promote physical activity and proper nutrition and reduce tobacco use and exposure—all lifestyle behaviors associated with obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. HCPH is collaborating with Lincoln Heights, Lockland and Woodlawn on this project. These communities are comprised of minority and low income populations demonstrating significant disparities in access to and use of prevention and health care services.

Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities

Hamilton County Public Health and the Collaborative to Prevent Childhood Obesity was awarded a $360,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) on January 12, 2010. This grant focuses on preventing childhood obesity and works to improve opportunities for physical activity and access to affordable healthy foods for children and families in several City of Cincinnati neighborhoods, Forest Park, Woodlawn, Lockland and Lincoln Heights. Hamilton County is one of 41 sites selected for the RWJF Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities initiative.

Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), advances community-based solutions that will help reverse the childhood obesity epidemic. It focuses on changing policies and environments to support active living and healthy eating among children and families. The program places special emphasis on reaching children who are at highest risk for obesity on the basis of income, race/ethnicity and geographic location. It will support RWJF’s efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States by 2015.

Communities Putting Prevention to Work

Hamilton County Public Health was awarded a grant of $6.7 million for a county-wide obesity prevention program on March 19, 2010. This grant award is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative to support public health efforts to reduce obesity, increase physical activity, improve nutrition, and decrease smoking—four critical actions for combating chronic diseases and promoting health.