Public health practitioners, local health departments, and community leaders across the United States now have access to a comprehensive new toolkit designed to improve nutrition and physical activity at the local and state levels. Developed collaboratively by ChangeLab Solutions and the California Department of Public Health’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Branch (NPAB), the newly launched
Nutrition and Physical Activity Policy Resources Suite provides essential guidance for creating healthier environments through policy and planning.
The resource suite addresses critical public health interventions, ranging from the expansion of active transportation infrastructure to the implementation of healthy food procurement standards in public institutions and the establishment of school gardens. By offering structured frameworks, legal analyses, and strategic blueprints, the initiative aims to help communities tackle chronic disease, improve dietary habits, and build safer, more accessible neighborhoods for residents of all ages.
Strategies to Support Safe and Active Transportation
A cornerstone of the new resource suite is its dedicated guidance on active transportation strategies, which provides public health advocates and municipal planners with the tools needed to encourage human-powered mobility. Active transportation encompasses any form of travel powered primarily by human energy, including walking, rolling by wheelchair, bicycling, riding a scooter, or utilizing public transit networks.
Integrating active transportation into community planning requires intentional coordination across multiple municipal departments and funding streams. According to the strategic guide included in the suite, multipronged approaches that seamlessly combine various policies, plans, and funding mechanisms consistently prove to be the most effective. Because planning and policy are deeply intertwined, the strategy document details the complete lifecycle of active transportation initiatives, moving from initial development and legislative adoption to full implementation and long-term maintenance.
Establishing and sustaining a safe, accessible active transportation system demands that local leaders align diverse plans and policies while actively collaborating with a broad range of community partners. By following the recommendations outlined in the resource suite, local governments can design streets and transit networks that prioritize safety, reduce reliance on motor vehicles, and encourage regular physical activity as an integral part of daily life.
Understanding Healthy Procurement of Foods and Drinks
Beyond physical activity, the new policy suite places a strong emphasis on improving community nutrition through institutional food procurement. Government entities at the state and local levels routinely purchase and provide food for millions of individuals across various public settings, including schools, public universities, childcare centers, public hospitals, correctional facilities, senior nutrition programs, and other government-operated facilities.
The suite’s healthy procurement guide highlights how leveraging this institutional purchasing power can fundamentally transform food environments. Procuring healthy and nutritious foods makes healthy eating significantly easier while directly improving the physical and mental health of employees, clients, patients, students, patrons, visitors, and nearby residents. The guide helps agencies and local leaders navigate the complex landscape of federal laws affecting state and local procurement, understand how procurement policies are practically implemented, evaluate contracting processes, and envision what comprehensive healthy procurement standards can achieve in practice.
A complementary food-focused procurement guide within the suite further assists leaders in expanding access to healthy foods, addressing persistent sociodemographic disparities in diet-related health outcomes, and achieving meaningful healthcare cost savings over time. By shifting institutional purchasing toward fresher, more nutritious options, public agencies can foster local agricultural economies while supporting vulnerable populations.
Adding School Gardens
To connect children directly with the sources of their food, the resource suite also includes a detailed primer on establishing and maintaining school gardens. School gardens offer multifaceted benefits for students, serving as dynamic outdoor learning laboratories that extend educational opportunities beyond traditional classrooms while yielding fresh produce for school cafeterias.
The primer provides a high-level overview of school gardens, outlining the relevant laws and policies that administrators and community members must consider prior to implementation. It also details the concrete steps required to establish a sustainable garden program, offering real-world examples of successful local policies, planning frameworks, and maintenance strategies.
The educational and health impacts of these green spaces are substantial. According to the primer, school gardens are directly linked to increased produce consumption, higher dietary intake of fiber and essential vitamins such as A and C, improvements in body mass index among children, and overall enhancements in student well-being and engagement.
Improve Health in Your Community
For local leaders and advocates seeking to evaluate the specific needs of their own neighborhoods, the resources provided by ChangeLab Solutions and the California Department of Public Health can be paired with data-driven evaluation tools. Organizations such as Salud America! offer localized Health Report Cards that allow users to generate detailed data profiles for counties across the United States.
By entering a county name, users can access auto-generated local data complete with interactive maps and comparative gauges covering critical health indicators, including education, housing, transportation, food access, and overall health outcomes. These reports enable communities to visualize local disparities, benchmark their progress against state and national averages, and leverage concrete data to support grant proposals, presentations, and policy advocacy aimed at driving meaningful health improvements.
