At P4HC, we bring the community’s voice to the table. We understand that in order to transform neighborhoods, neighbors will be in charge. So we’ve developed a process of neighborhood assessment & engagement that empowers communities members to identifying the most important issues that relate to healthy neighborhoods. They decide what they want to tackle and identify the unique assets that will facilitate the change. Your typical power to the people stuff, public health style.
The other day, a friend of ours asked us to gaze into our crystal ball & answer the question,
What would happen if communities don’t go through this process?
Our short answer? If communities don’t go through this process, we’re going to lose the fight. We will not be able to make the healthy choice the easy choice – and help everyone be healthier and happier – unless communities are in charge of the change. Here’s why:
On April 11th, our friend Cindy Veney, Nutrition Services Director at Adams 14 School District was featured in a USAToday editorial entitled: Our View: Want Fries with that? Not at these schools. Cindy is a leader in school food reform. She’s making offerings healthier for kids & not spending more money. Fantastic. right? Not to everyone – just read the comments at the end of the article:
“Why can’t kids just eat what they take to school in a lunch box like I did? I did just fine with that peanut butter sandwich and apple or whatever it was. The government has to get over thinking it can micromanage and control our lives. How about some self reliance? If we can’t be trusted to feed ourselves and our kids, what are we capable of? Do we need the government to dress our kids in the morning too?”
Last September, I was quoted in a Denver Post article, Spoiled System: Eating healthier comes with a price for families. The article explores why it costs more to eat healthy & how that makes it real difficult for low-income families to feed their kids fresh fruits & veggies. Seems simple, straightforward. The article explains how federal agriculture subsidies have tilted the balance making junky, processed foods cheaper.
Here’s the very first comment:
“What a bunch of crybabies we Americans have become! Apparently we can’t do the right thing for ourselves unless the government holds our hand and makes sure the right thing is also the cheapest thing. US agricultural subsidies are messed up and need reform, but that is no excuse not to have some veggies to go along with your mac and cheese. With fresh, frozen, and canned vegetables to choose from, cost effective options are always available. Did the family in the article take advantage of recent deals on sweet corn for 4 or more ears per dollar? I hope so.”
What would happen if communities don’t go through this process?
We’re up against a political firestorm at the community level. Cries of nanny state, outrage over IRS subsidies for breast pumps for nursing moms, & don’t tell me what to feed my kids statements are not fringe sentiments of extremists. Get off the couch. Stop eating so much. Lots of people feel this way. People you know feel this way. (If you don’t know any people who feel this way, you’re not spending enough time outside Boulder. I encourage you to explore other parts of America.)
Here’s the deal: when 68% of adults & nearly one third of kids are overweight or obese, something way bigger is going on. Think about how freaked out we would have been if 68% of people had gotten swine flu. That’s a serious epidemic. Something about the way we have designed neighborhoods & our food system is creating conditions that make it way easier to drive & way cheaper to buy junked-out, processed foods. How do we change our neighborhoods back? Neighbors do it.
Every attempt of foundations, public health agencies & community-based organizations to change conditions to make the healthy choice the easy choice will be subject to a loud outcry from frustrated people. The people who feel this way are our neighbors, fellow voters, parents, school board members & city council members. There are lots of people out there that just don’t get it. This seems funny to many of our colleagues who live & breathe healthy eating and active living. But I realized this pretty quick: putting in roundabouts is more controversial than emergency contraception.
At P4HC, we are committed to helping people get it. In order to shift the tide of a rising obesity epidemic, we have to facilitate a productive dialogue with community members – the people who have the power to put the kibosh on transit-oriented development projects, school food reform movements & parents who can (and have) stopped schools from implementing healthy snacks policies. Because those same people can transform their communities for good.
Although it is easy to dismiss these sentiments as fringe, uneducated or unenlightened, we have witnessed projects stop dead in their tracks because people let their elected officials know – in no uncertain terms – that they don’t like these changes.
If communities don’t go through this process, we’re going to lose the fight. We can’t make the healthy choice the easy choice unless people get it – because that involves local, state and national policy that will only be driven by public sentiment. The people have to DEMAND change. Then change will happen quickly.
By connecting people to the issues they do care about – safe streets, no gangs, after-school activities for kids, youth leadership, better lighting, image & aesthetics, better student performance – we can transform this conversation. We talk about these issues in the context of values that matter to everyone – freedom, choice, happiness, safety, play, good food.
With a small investment to facilitate this process, we can create champions for health in neighborhoods who are engaged on their own terms. And those champions will be in their communities – fighting the fight – long after we’re gone. Every person deserves to live in a great neighborhood – who can argue with that?
Power to the people,
Merrick
I strongly believe in the power of communities to create positive change. By building on the strengths of everyone who lives and works in our community, this action-oriented strategy sets a course that we at P4HC hope will help Adams County as a whole become an even safer and healthier place to live, work, learn and play.
