Healthier Douglas County Hosting Community Meeting, Coalition Building Event

Healthier Douglas County Coalition is hosting a community meeting and coalition building event tonight. The event is intended to engage community members and leaders in the coalition and obesity prevention efforts.

Coalition leaders Grace Gee, Mary Mahan and Lynne Bauer reached out to key community groups and leaders in a variety of ways, including:

• Letters to schools, businesses, elected officials and key community members
• One-on-one meetings
• Media

The event was featured in the Superior Telegram.

Gee said the fight against obesity must be fought on three levels — individual, community and corporate/government. It’s more complicated than telling people to change their behaviors, however. Coalition members hope to foster a climate that encourages good nutrition and physical exercise — easy access to trails, more gardening, use of fresh locally-grown foods, workers taking a walk during lunch breaks and more.

Read the full story here.

Pitching a National Story Locally

Challenge Chippewa took the lessons learned at the Dec. 9 Advocacy Training and pitched a national story about dietary guidelines and sugar-sweetened beverages to their local media. The Chippewa Herald ran their story on Jan. 14.

“When people count calories, they too often forget to
include the liquid ones,” said Judy Fedie, RD, CD, registered dietitian for
Chippewa County Public Health. “We need to start thinking of the sugar in
sweetened drinks as wasted calories. These calories provide no nutritional
benefits and can lead to weight gain. Water is a better choice.”

Check out the full story here: http://chippewa.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/article_182259f2-200e-11e0-9a89-001cc4c03286.html

Need a refresher on Media Advocacy? Here are some useful resources from the Dec. 9 training.

Media Advocacy PowerPoint
Making a National Headline Local News
Media Advocacy Tips

Or check out these tips for talking to a reporter ...

Tips: Talking to a Reporter from Wisconsin Clearinghouse on Vimeo.

Gearing up for Action in 2011

Happy New Year! As we look toward 2011, we face a number of challenges and unknowns. While it may be tempting to sit back and wait to see where things land in a new political landscape, the fact remains that our duty as public health professionals and partners in prevention is to proactively work toward change. Decision makers need to hear from us now more than ever about the importance of creating healthy environments for everyone – in the places they live, learn, work, play and pray.

I wanted to share a few related thoughts from my colleague Kyle Pfister, Policy Coordinator in the Tobacco Prevention and Control Program:

I know when I'm faced with a challenge, it helps me stay positive to do something about it. We work in a cyclical political landscape where many things are out of our control – but we know the process and
can prepare for parts of it. By building policy competencies into your programs year-round, you'll be able to engage in these critical public debates. Here are some policy competencies we value:

• Coalition-Building - Building and engaging a network of grasstops and grassroots supporters strengthens the voice of the public who care about continued attention to your issues. Check out NPAO’s coalition building resources!
• Media Advocacy – Media is something you can work to your advantage. Letters to the editor, building relationships with reporters, op-eds, and Editorial Board visits are all
  strategies to influence the media framing of your issues. Check out Media Advocacy tips on http://www.healthinpractice.org/.
• Policymaker Education - Legislators need to hear about your issue from your supporters via in-district meetings, forums, and public hearings. These are the people who will make the decisions, and we want them to be informed decisions. Educating a policymaker does not constitute lobbying. Here is a recap on lobbying vs. education, including some real examples.
  Just as a note, these strategies have worked for TPCP but do not substitute for the direction of your supervisor nor legal advice. This does not limit your ability to support partners in engaging in these actions.Thinking about how we sustain our work throughout the year ensures success for the long run.