Posts tagged policy

Salud America! Gets $2.1M to Expand Network, Fuel Advocacy to Reduce Latino Childhood Obesity

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8 months ago
by admin in ,

Mexican-American children ages 2-19 are more likely to be obese or overweight than their peers.

That’s why we’re excited to announce that Salud America! The RWJF Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children has received a two-year, $2.1 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) for its ongoing pursuit of policy and environmental solutions to the epidemic of Latino childhood obesity across the nation.

Salud America! will expand its 2,000-member network and develop an innovative system to support, inform, and empower advocates to prevent Latino childhood obesity.

This Web-based advocacy support system will unite science and multimedia experts to produce a continuous stream of evidence-based news, research, training, and education on Latino childhood obesity to empower researchers, policymakers, and the public to advocate for policy change.

Please join the network here.

“In the midst of National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, we’re extremely pleased that RWJF is supporting our unprecedented venture that we believe will create and inspire a cadre of advocates to spark policy changes that improve the health of Latino families,” said Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPH, director of Salud America!, headquartered at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the team behind SaludToday.

Salud America! was launched in 2007 to build the research base needed in order to address these challenges and reverse the obesity epidemic among Latino children and adolescents.

In its first five years, Salud America! supported new studies and research briefs from 20 different researchers. It also has fueled its online network with e-communications; the first Latino research priority agenda; a video on Latino childhood obesity; and research briefs examining Latino youth nutrition and physical activity, as well as Latino-targeted food and beverage marketing.

Now over the next two years, Salud America! plans to:

  • expand its national brand as an information resource on Latino childhood obesity;
  • add new members and advocates to its network;
  • develop an online advocacy platform specific to the needs and concerns of advocates working to prevent Latino childhood obesity;
  • develop a scientific research expert team to interpret and build evidence, and identify relevant content and calls to action;
  • produce dynamic multimedia products to feed the network and advocacy platform; and
  • monitor and evaluate the impact of these activities.

Salud America!’s innovative, online advocacy support platform will empower Latino advocates, providers, and other stakeholders with both nationally and locally relevant content.

Read more here.

Latino Leadership Group Issues ‘National Latino Policy Agenda’

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10 months ago
by admin in

The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of 31 of the leading Latino civic organizations in the U.S., has released its agenda of national policy and legislative priorities on Latino issues.

The document, which will be presented to presidential candidates and delegates at the national Democratic and Republican Conventions, covers education, civil rights, immigration, economic security and improvement, health, and government accountability to give candidates an understanding of policies needed to advance the social and economic status of the Latino community in 2012 and beyond.

In the health realm, the document states: “To reverse the disparity between the health status of Latinos and the population at large, public policy must focus on expanding health insurance to the 30 percent of Latinos without coverage, investing in prevention, and improving the cultural and linguistic competence of our health care professionals.”

Read the full agenda here.

Young Leader Awards: Recognizing Leadership for a Healthier America

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1 year ago
by admin in ,

Editor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series that will highlight the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s work in Latino communities across the country.

As a part of its 40th anniversary commemoration, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) will honor up to 10 individuals age 40 and under who offer great promise for leading the way to improved health and health care for all Americans. Each recipient of the Young Leader Award will get $40,000 as acknowledgement of his or her accomplishments in research, direct care, policy, technology, community programs or other areas.

Diversity and inclusion are core values of RWJF, and nominations of young leaders from the widest array of perspectives and experiences are encouraged. RWJF believes that the more its work includes diverse perspectives and experiences, the better it will be able to help all Americans live healthier lives and get the care they need.

The deadline for nominations is July 16 (11:59 p.m. EDT).

Awardees will be notified Sept. 24, and the Young Leaders will be announced publicly at an RWJF conference in Princeton, NJ, on Oct. 25-26.

To be eligible for a Young Leader Award, a candidate must:

  • Have been working to improve health or health care for at least three years;
  • Have contributed to improving health or health care through innovation and leadership;
  • Be 40 years of age or younger as of July 16, 2012; and
  • Be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States or its territories.

For more information on how to nominate a Young Leader, click here.

EVENT 5/23-26/12: New Insights into Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

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1 year ago
by admin in ,

The 2012 International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity Annual Meeting, set for May 23-26, 2012, in Austin, Texas, is a unique opportunity to learn about behavioral nutrition and physical activity, interact with a broad constituency of leaders, and gain new insight into innovations in research, policy and practice.

Register here. See a list of key speakers and special features here.

Salud America! The RWJF Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children, is an event sponsor. Salud America! is led by the Institute for Health Promotion Research at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the team behind SaludToday.

Salud America! Director Dr. Amelie Ramirez is chairing two sessions: Environmental Determinants of Nutrition in Latinos (featuring the menu labeling work of Salud America! grantee Dr. Carmen Nevarez) at 9:30 a.m. CST and Combating Latino Childhood Obesity (featuring IHPR researcher Dr. Deborah Parra-Medina) at 4:30 p.m. CST on May 24. Dr. Parra-Medina also is involved in several other sessions as well.

Salud America! grantee Dr. Nelda Mier is part of a group presenting on personal and cultural influences on healthy behaviors among older Hispanics with diabetes born in the U.S. and Mexico at 2:30 p.m. CST May 24.

Salud America! grantee Dr. Meizi He is part of groups presenting two posters (perception and media-related intervention strategies to address obesity among Hispanic communities; college students’ perception of initiating a farmers’ market on campus) at 12:30 p.m. May 25, and is presenting her work on faith-based childhood obesity prevention at 3 p.m. May 25.

Other sessions involve Salud America! Advisors Drs. Amy Yaroch (food systems as an avenue for health promotion at 10:30 a.m. CST May 24), Elva Arredondo (physical activity promotion and obesity prevention in Latin America at 11 a.m. CST May 25) and James Sallis (perceived neighborhood environmental attributes associated with adults’ transport-related walking and cycling at 9 a.m. May 26).

Making the Connection: Linking Policies that Prevent Hunger and Childhood Obesity

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1 year ago
by admin in ,

New Policy Brief

In the past, food insecurity and obesity were viewed as separate public health problems, yet research now shows that people with unreliable access to food are also more likely to be obese.

A new brief, Making the Connection: Linking Policies that Prevent Hunger and Childhood Obesity, released by Leadership for Healthy Communities, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, provides policymakers seeking to address hunger in their communities with policy options that can also contribute significantly to reversing the childhood obesity epidemic.

Some of the policy strategies outlined in the brief include:

  • Establishing healthy food financing initiatives to increase access to nutritious foods;
  • Supporting farm-to-institution, farm-to-school and school garden programs;
  • Increasing free and reduced-price school meals; and
  • Partnering with the private sector to increase the value of federal nutrition assistance benefits for healthful foods through double-coupon initiatives.

Read more here.

Funding Opportunity: Advancing Smarter Policies for Healthier Communities

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2 years ago
by admin in

The Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts advancing the use of health impact assessments (HIAs), will fund proposals that can help demonstrate the effectiveness of HIAs and promote their incorporation into local, state, tribal and federal decision-making.

HIAs provides sound, objective data than can help decision-makers identify the health ramifications of proposals in a range of sectors that do not traditionally focus on health outcomes, and make recommendations that enhance health benefits and minimize adverse effects and associated costs.

This call for proposals will support organizations that wish to undertake an HIA of a proposed policy, project or program currently or soon to be under active consideration by a decision-making body.

The deadline for receipt of online brief proposals is June 1, 2011.

Latinos, Make Your Voice Heard on How to Create Healthier Schools, Communities

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2 years ago
by admin in ,

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has launched a special online forum to start an open dialogue about the best ways to implement their six policy priorities for reversing the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015, including creating healthier schools and communities.

The discussion forum consists of six topic threads—one for each policy priority:

  • Built environmen​t
  • High-quali​ty, affordable foods in communitie​s
  • Pricing Strategies
  • Food and beverages in schools
  • Physical activity in school
  • Marketing to children

Latinos, this is a perfect opportunity to weigh in with your throughts on efforts to solve childhood obesity.

Please don’t hesitate to visit the RWJF site and enter your comments—RWJF staff members are acting as hosts and will post messages frequently to respond to comments and offer their own thoughts.

Making Safer Routes to School

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3 years ago
by admin in ,

The Safe Routes to School State Network Project has produced a final report to highlight progress achieved in implementing policies for safer routes to schools, leveraging additional resources and building a supportive environment for Safe Routes to School through other state-level policies.

The project included California, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and the District of Columbia. 

Major project accomplishments included:

  • Improving state DOT Safe Routes to School programs;
  • Leveraging millions of additional dollars to address traffic safety, education, public health and infrastructure;
  • Spreading the word about the process of establishing a network and their accomplishments; and
  • Securing policy changes in school siting, complete streets, safety plans and more—all of which institutionalizes a supportive environment for safe and healthy active transportation.

At California’s Kawana Elementary School, where 76% of students are Latino, school leaders and the local health department teamed to secure three extra years of Safe Routes to School funding for education, enforcement and encouragement activities, such as the school’s “Walking Wednesday” events, walking shcool buses and contest.

For more details, go the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Web site.

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