A Guide for Local and State Leaders Working to Create Healthy Communities and Prevent Childhood Obesity

The information contained in this article is not intended as legal advice and may no longer be accurate due to changes in the law. Consult NHMA's legal services or your municipal attorney.

Research shows that where we live can impact how well we live. Today, many of our communities are unhealthy. Too frequently, families lack access to full-service grocery stores that stock affordable healthy foods, and children don’t have safe places to play or even walk. We want to work together to create environments that pave the way for healthier lifestyles. Healthy communities provide families with convenient access to affordable healthy foods; safe places to walk, ride a bicycle and play; and schools that offer nutritious foods and plenty of opportunities for physical activity. Across the country, policy-makers, community leaders and people in the private sector are collaborating to build such neighborhoods, but we still have a long way to go.

In the United States, more than 23 million children and adolescents are overweight or obese. That means nearly one in three young people are at a higher risk for serious, even life-threatening health problems, such as asthma, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

These trends are likely to create additional pressures on our nation’s overburdened health care system. Studies estimate the obesity epidemic costs the country more than $117 billion per year in direct medical costs and indirect costs related to reduced productivity and absenteeism. The need for action is clear.

To help meet this need, the Action Strategies Toolkit was developed by Leadership for Healthy Communities, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The strategies in this toolkit include promising and evidence-based practices that advance these goals and build upon the work in which policy-makers are already engaged.

Through collaboration among states, counties, cities, towns and schools, policy-makers can meet their constituents’ demand for healthy living as they take steps to reduce health care costs and improve health care performance in their cities and towns.

This toolkit can be downloaded at NLC’s website at Health and Wellness under Topics tab at www.nlc.org.