May Healthy Living Newsletter

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Healthy Living Newsletter_May14

Overpath becomes Recreation Destination!!

The Active Older Adults of Lauderhill have taken their workout outdoors. Using the newly paved and lit walking paths and the hill challenge of the Overpath, they are spending time with friends and improving their health and wellbeing. Proof positive: better built environments create healthier behaviors!!

Sneak Peek at the “Art of Community” Plans

The Live Well Lauderhill initiative continues to work through the complex layers of permissions necessary to install the Art of Community project. Everyone is working hard to design and install a community-led public work of art. Community members, teen leaders, city officials, FP & L, the Broward County School District, and FIU professors are working collaboratively to make this awesome design a reality. Follow the link for a sneak peek of the project design!

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Food Systems Roundtable in Lauderdale Lakes

http://www.touchbroward.org/food-system-roundtable-2013/

Join the City of Lauderdale Lakes and our partners from the TOUCH Coalition to discuss food access, affordability, and availability.

The Art of Community Project Moves to Next Phase

Y Leaders, FIU Artists, and Mayor Kaplan discuss opportunities

Live Well Lauderhill champion, Mayor Kaplan, greets the students

Awaiting student leader response

FIU Art Professors Present their designs to Lauderhill student leaders

In support of the Own the Overpath project, the Community Foundation of Broward has provided the Y of Broward County with funding to support the development and installation of a community designed public art project. Students, community members, city and Turnpike Authority officials, and many others have been working for several months to develop a vision for this project. The community’s vision for this project was formed through several meetings and student trips to FIU to meet with Professors Jacek Kolasinski and Roberto Rovira and a team of graduate students. FIU professors then returned to the Lauderhill Y to present the plan to the student leaders for approval. The project is now being presented at HOA meetings and the Lauderhill City Commission. Installation of this amazing work will take place this fall!

Live Well Lauderhill Inspires Pioneering Healthy Communities Expansion!

The amazing success of the Live Well Lauderhill project has inspired leaders in Broward County to begin thinking about increasing the impact. Recognizing that the Y anchors the work of the Live Well Lauderhill project, leaders are working to establish a “Health Corridor” that spans from Lauderhill Y east to the join with the L A Lee YMCA, located in the heart of 33311. Community leaders from the L A Lee YMCA have begun to build their own Pioneering Healthy Communities team consisting of board members, community members, older adults, teen leaders, and community organizations. This team has begun conducting community forums and windshield tours.

Eventually, the L A Lee PHC team will create their own name in the spirit of Live Well Lauderhill and begin a blog about their efforts. In the meantime, updates will be posted to the Live Well Lauderhill blog as we begin to build the Health Corridor which will stretch from the Lauderhill Y to the L A Lee YMCA.

The above map identifies all the locations of the Y programs within the Health Corridor. In fact, through amazing community partners such as the Children’s Services Council, the Health Foundation of South Florida, The Jim Moran Foundation, the Community Foundation of Broward, and the City of Lauderhill, among others, the Y invests over $5 Million annually in this region to serve the community through afterschool programs, health and wellness programming for children, families, and older adults, and summer camps! As we begin to work collectively with community members, community partners, and funders, the opportunities to continue to improve the health and wellbeing of this community is unlimited! Join this dynamic effort to build healthy communities where the healthy choice is the easy and affordable choice for all!

Live Well Lauderhill welcomes communities from around the nation

Students deliver the message

Leader discuss

Reuniting with colleague Mark Fenton

Who’s the student now?

Broward County was the host site for the Statewide Pioneering Healthy Communities and REACH (Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health) conference. This event was sponsored by the CDC and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Live Well Lauderhill was a host site for one of the mobile workshops and the students of Live Well Lauderhill conducted a plenary session to communicate their story with communities from around the country. A special treat was reconnecting Mark Fenton, national expert and leader of our first community tour in Lauderhill, with the Live Well Lauderhill students. He congratulated the students on their amazing work and on how much taller they all are than when he met them in November 2011!

Own the Overpath from the Classroom the the Boardroom

Live Well Lauderhill continues to explore innovative approaches to engage community members around the safety concerns of the 19th Street Overpath. Recently, a group of 50 Lauderhill Older Adults and 20 Lauderhill Teens participated in Own the Overpath focus groups. We discussed how the community can collectively support Live Well’s effort.

We also explored solutions to how the community can better be connected to one another. The Overpath was seen as an asset and a resource to engage community members in service learning opportunities such as community gardening.

Meanwhile, the Own the Overpath Collaborative (Lauderhill Commissioner Benson, Broward County Public Schools, Florida Power and Light, Florida Department of Transportation, the Turnpike Authority, Florida International University, and the Y of Broward) have been meeting to explore the policies created for the Overpath. The Collaborative has been researching over 25 year old policies to better support student and pedestrian safety.

Lauderhill Older Adults using the Big Picture Deck to tell their community stories.

Lauderhill Y Executive Director, Jocelyn Boyd, facilitating a community focus group.

Lauderhill Teens creatively expressing what “community” means to them.

Own the Overpath Collaborative discussing Overpath Policies dating back more than 25 years!

Broward County School Board Chair, Laurie Rich Levinson, Meets with Live Well Lauerhill Teens

Earlier in February, some of the Live Well Lauderhill teen leaders met with School Board Chair Laurie Rich Levinson and Broward County Public Schools Food and Nutrition Service Director Mary Mulder. Broward County Public Schools sought out honest and open feedback from the students regarding their school provided meals.

The teen leaders were excited to see healthier fruits and vegetables offered during breakfast and lunch. They offered ideas and suggestions about how to incorporate more options into what is being served. The students were excited to be introduced to new fruits and vegetables. Several of the teen leaders have said that the healthier options have allowed them to try new items that are outside of their comfort zone.

Jasmine Carter said that her favorite lunch items are the salad entrees. She suggested that the BCPS start expanding their salad menu so that more kids would be open to trying the salads.

Jasmine has been invited by BCPS to serve on a healthy vending task force as a student leader. There she will provide innovative ideas on how to incorporate healthy vending options to the school meals.

Live Well Lauderhill is looking forward to our ongoing partnership with Broward County Public Schools to increase opportunities for healthy eating in the school setting.

Live Well Lauderhill students host the TOUCH partners

Live Well Lauderhill students hosted the TOUCH (Transforming Our Communitites Health) Collaborative for a community tour and an update on their progress to create a healthier community surrounding Lauderhill Middle School and the Lauderhill Y.  Would love your feedback on the tour and any follow up questions for the students.

Officer Sarvis explains his role in the community and the connections between health, saftey, and community outcomes.

Chennel Whyte strategizes with Broward Regional Health Planning Council CEO Mike Delucca and Patrice Gillespie Smith, Program Manager at Urban Health Partnerships