Salud Hero of the Week: Physician-Leader Turns Rails to Trails

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Editor’s Note: Salud Heroes are a weekly feature from the Salud America! Growing Healthy Change website, which aims to empower healthy changes in Latino communities through news, resources, and stories.

Latino neighborhoods often lack spaces for physical activity.

That was the case in the West part of Brownsville, Texas, a largely Latino community along the Texas-Mexico border.

But Dr. Rose Gowen, a physician-turned-city-leader, wanted to change that.

Gowen worked with city officials and community leaders to secure funding—and remained persistent when funding was rejected at first—and make final plans to turn an abandoned railway into the beautiful new Belden Trail.

The trail, with crossing posts, bike parking, shade structures and other amenities, opened in Fall 2013 to connect homes and schools and give people a new space for physical activity.

Read the full story here or watch the video.

Find resources to start a change like this in your area.