NACDD Announces New 2018 Walkability Teams
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Paige Rohe, prohe@chronicdisease.org, 470-809-0589

ATLANTA (January 16, 2018) —  The National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD), in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion’s (NCCDPHP) Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity (DNPAO), announces the nine interdisciplinary regional teams, who will receive travel assistance to attend the 2018 Step It Up!: Action Institute to Increase Walking and Walkability, also known as the Walkability Action Institute (WAI) in Decatur, Ga., April 9-12, 2018.

The purpose of the WAI is to prepare interdisciplinary teams from metropolitan planning organization regions (or other similar regional entities) to pursue policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) supports for walking and walkability. This action institute will provide teams with the most up-to-date academic and applied learning methods, and will reinforce and support implementation of significant national public health policy statements promoting walking and walkability, such as Step It Up! — The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Promote Walking and Walkable Communities. NACDD convenes a renowned course faculty to provide participant teams with an optimal learning experience.

Applicant teams were asked to demonstrate the required team make-up (public health, planning, transportation, and elected officials), as well as past, current, and future ability to influence walkable community design through high-level PSE activities. NACDD and CDC announce the following nine teams, who will receive travel assistance to attend this year’s WAI:

• Albuquerque, New Mexico (Mid-Region Council of Governments)
• Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (Allegheny County Health Department)
• Anchorage, Alaska (Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions)
• Eau-Claire, Wisconsin (Eau-Claire City-County Health Department)
• Hildago County, Texas (Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Commission)
• Las Vegas, Nevada (Southern Region Regional Transportation Commission)
• Lawrence-Douglas County, Kansas (City of Lawrence)
• Richmond, Virginia (Richmond City Health District)
• Springfield, Missouri (Ozark Greenways)

These nine teams join an NACDD cadre of 32 additional WAI alumni teams who are working to increase physical activity through macro PSE efforts focusing on active living and active transportation. Each team will participate in related pre- and post-course activities, including the development of a team action plan that will serve to augment their walkability efforts.

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The National Association of Chronic Disease Directors
Promoting Health. Preventing Disease.

The National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD) and its more than 6,500 members seek to strengthen state-based leadership and expertise for chronic disease prevention and control in states and nationally. Established in 1988, in partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the NACDD is the only membership association of its kind to serve and represent every chronic disease division in all states and U.S. territories. For more information about NACDD, visit chronicdisease.org. To learn more about NACDD’s WAI project and efforts, please visit https://www.chronicdisease.org/page/WAI.

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