NYC Health and Parks Departments Partner to Expand Free Fitness Classes

Submission Date: May 2017

State/Territory Submitted on the Behalf of: New York

States/Territories Involved: New York

Funding Source: CDC

CDC Funding:

Yes

CDC Funding (Specified):

(DP14-1422) State and Local Public Health Actions to Prevent Obesity, Diabetes and Heart Disease

Domain Addressed:

Environmental Approaches

Public Health Issue:

• The New York City neighborhoods of East and Central Harlem, the South Bronx, North and Central Brooklyn, and southeast Queens (Jamaica and Far Rockaway) have persistently higher rates of obesity, uncontrolled diabetes, and hypertension than the citywide average according to the 2015 NYC Community Health Survey.
• Prevention opportunities in these communities must be free or low-cost and culturally adapted because these neighborhoods have a higher proportion of residents living in poverty and are diverse both racially and ethnically.

Program Action:

• NYC Parks partnered with the First Lady of the City of New York, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation, and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to increase class offerings and class sites for Shape Up NYC. Shape Up NYC is part of Building Healthy Communities, a public-private partnership committed to improving community health in 12 of NYC’s most underserved neighborhoods by improving opportunities for physical activity, increasing access to nutritious and affordable food, and promoting public safety.
• Class are offered in parks, at recreation centers, and in other community locations and include yoga, Zumba, boot camp, kickboxing, cardio sculpt, and conditioning.
• Marketing materials translated into Spanish, Chinese, and Russian are provided to doctors’ offices to encourage physicians to promote the classes to their patients. Advertisements in these languages are also placed in local newspapers, bus shelters, and subway stations.

Impact/Accomplishments:

• Through these new partnerships, Shape Up NYC provided more than 100 new classes, 80 of which were in neighborhoods with disproportionately high rates of chronic diseases.
• Shape Up NYC offered the more classes in more sites in 2016 than they have since the program began. This is also the first time marketing materials were produced in multiple languages.
• Shape Up NYC now offers their Fitness Instructor Training program in Spanish and several bilingual fitness classes.
• “Translated materials allowed Shape Up NYC to reach a new, diverse group of potential participants. The Shape Up NYC program continues to remove the most common barriers to fitness by making classes free and open to the public,”said Emily Chase, Assistant Commissioner for Public Programs, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation.

Program Areas:

Healthy Communities (general)

State Contact Information:

New York
Tamara Hardoby
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
347-396-4247

<< Back to All Success Stories