The NGA Center hosted a policy workshop – Designing Healthy Communities – to provide governors' advisors with an opportunity to share state strategies for fostering healthy communities. 

Eleven states - Arizona, Arkansas, California, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Utah, and Washington - participated in the workshop. Attendees highlighted policies and programs that foster healthy places by designing in ways that allow people to walk or bicycle to some of their daily destinations; providing trails and other green space for both transportation and recreation; building vibrant public and commercial areas that invite people to congregate; and more. In addition, states described policies that help curb air and water pollution, limit green space consumption, encourage physical activity, and address the obesity epidemic.

PRESENTATIONS:

  • Health and Community Design: The Connections
    • Marla Hollander, director, Active Living Leadership National Coordination Office
  • New Jersey Initiatives - Smart Growth and Health, Perfect Together
    • Robin L. Murray, AIA PP, deputy executive director, Office of Smart Growth, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs
  • Building 21st Century Communities
    • David Dixon, FAIA, principal-in-charge, Planning and Urban Design, Goody Clancy & Associates
  • A Renaissance for Walkable Cities and Towns in Massachusetts
    • Stephen H. Burrington, deputy secretary of commonwealth Development, Office for Commonwealth Development, Office of Governor Mitt Romney, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
  • Reaping the Rewards by Creating Pedestrian and Bicycle Friendly Places
    • Mary Kay Santore, senior policy analyst, Development, Community & Environment Division, US Environmental Protection Agency
  • Trails Build Healthy Communities
    • Jennie Southwick, BS, CHES, health program specialist, Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, Utah Department of Health
  • Creating Healthier Places for Healthier People
  • Walkability Audit
    • Thomas Dodds, PE, pedestrian and bicycle engineer, South Carolina Department of Transportation
  • Health, Land Use, and Transportation: Priorities and Progress in Michigan
    • Kimberlydawn Wisdom, MD, MS, Michigan surgeon general, Michigan Department of Community Health
  • Michigan's Cool Cities Initiative
    • Emily Fleury, assistant policy advisor, Office of Governor Jennifer M. Granholm, State of Michigan
  • What Does A Healthy Community Look Like?
  • Obesity Prevention Synergy
    • Susan Gerard, health policy advisor, Office of Governor Janet Napolitano, State of Arizona