Healthy Community Policies Impact Whatcom County

Submission Date: December 2009

State/Territory Submitted on the Behalf of: Washington

States/Territories Involved: Washington

Domain Addressed:

Environmental Approaches

Public Health Issue:

• Chronic disease and health risk factors in Whatcom County are more prevalent among populations impacted by poverty and socioeconomic disparities.
• Children living in poverty have higher rates of overweight, obesity, exposure to second-hand smoke and poor nutritional intake. For example, half of Whatcom County 10^th graders don’t get the recommended amount of daily physical activity.

Program Action:

• Whatcom County was selected to receive funding for the Action Communities for Health, Innovation, and EnVironmental ChangE (ACHIEVE) Initiative, part of a Healthy Communities partnership with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, YMCA of USA, National Association of City and County Health Official, and National Recreation and Parks Association.
• Whatcom ACHIEVE organized for policy and environmental change to create a community that’s more walkable, has increased access to healthy food and lower tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke.

Impact/Accomplishments:

• Whatcom ACHIEVE leveraged $30,000 to train community leaders in applying health equity principles to community development and $25,000 from the National Park Service to support communities and groups to plan for pedestrian, bicycle and recreation improvements.
• The ACHIEVE process positioned Whatcom to leverage $274,000 in Community Transformation Grant funds to become the regional hub for the NW Washington Healthy Communities Project, making them a provider of technical assistance and a major contributor to comprehensive land use planning.
• ACHIEVE staff collaborated to develop project criteria adopted as part of the Bellingham Pedestrian Plan.
• In a partnership with the Council of Governments, they trained most county/city engineers/city planners in walkable-community planning for “Safe & Healthy Streets”
• ACHIEVE’s identified action goals for creating healthy neighborhoods are now part of the county‘s Community Health Improvement Plan.

Program Areas:

Healthy Communities (general), Other

State Contact Information:

WA
Melissa Morin
Whatcom County Health Department
360-676-6724 ext. 32027
mmorin@whatcomcounty.us

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