Community-wide obesity prevention: re-connecting public health, urban planning, and public policy in three Missouri communities

Abstract

Trailnet's Healthy, Active & Vibrant Communities Initiative (HAVC) is a model that has demonstrated significant early successes at creating environments, policies, and social networks that support and promote healthy eating and active lifestyles. The HAVC Initiative uses community engagement and community development principles to build communities' capacity to implement evidence-based and promising strategies in three diverse community settings in the St. Louis region. Trailnet works with each community to develop and institutionalize a multi-disciplinary taskforce of local leaders that coordinates and champions efforts. Taskforce members are involved at all stages, including conducting community readiness and community needs assessments that guide efforts. HAVC activities are tailored to complement the unique assets, needs, and interests of each community. Early successes and a third-party evaluation, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) have identified the HAVC Initiative as an “emerging intervention.” This paper presents the underlying theory, process, and key lessons-learned from the HAVC Initiative.

Keywords:

• obesity prevention
• public health
• public policy
• built environment
• social networks

Acknowledgements

Funding for this project was provided in part by the Missouri Foundation for Health. The Missouri Foundation for Health is a philanthropic organization whose vision is to improve the health of the people in the communities it serves.

Special thanks to the two Early Assessment of Programs and Policies to Prevent Childhood Obesity site evaluators, Janice Sommers from the Center of Excellence for Training and Research Translation and Katie Sobush from the CDC Foundation, and UNC intern Sarah Worthington for her work drafting the Trailnet HAVC dissemination template. Thanks to the partners that made the Early Assessment possible: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF); the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Adolescent and School Health, the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, and the Prevention Research Centers Program Office; and the CDC Foundation. Macro International Inc. served as the Coordinating Center for the project.