What is the Healthy Policies Initiative?
Since 2010, the PLACE Program’s Healthy Policies
Initiative (HPI) has been assisting
low-resource cities to develop policies and land use
plans that encourage active transportation, i.e. walking
and biking. Regular physical activity is essential for
maintaining healthy body weight and can provide major
protective effects against heart disease, diabetes, and
cancer. Studies have shown that streets designed for
pedestrians and bicyclists can encourage higher levels
of walking and biking, and lead to decreases in chronic
disease and motor vehicle crashes between pedestrians
and bicyclists – thus creating healthier communities.
Low-resource cities often have a high prevalence of
childhood obesity and chronic disease, and few streets
designed for safe bicycling and walking. Such cities may
not have the resources to develop bicycle and pedestrian
improvement plans or to write competitive grant
applications to secure funds for bicycle and
pedestrian-friendly streetscape improvements.
How does the Healthy Policies Initiative
work?
Under the HPI, cities partner with the PLACE Program to
develop an active transportation plan. Cities are given
a menu of strategy options to choose from. Once they
select a plan to develop, the PLACE Program provides
staff to manage the project, as well as access to
technical consultants paid for by the Department of
Public Health (see the list of our funders below). The
menu of strategies includes: 1) Bicycle and pedestrian
improvement plans; 2) Safe routes to school plans; 3)
Complete streets policies; 4) Park improvement plans; 5)
Bicycle and Pedestrian-friendly business districts; and
6) Pedestrian street crossing plans; 7) Parking policies
to promote walking and biking.
In addition, PLACE staff work with locally-based
Department of Public Health field staff to ensure
meaningful community engagement. With guidance from city
staff and community partners, staff recruit community
members to a Stakeholder Advisory Group that gives input
on the plan. Further, staff conduct community outreach
to solicit ideas and concerns from community members to
help shape the plan. The entire process is a joint
partnership involving city staff, community
stakeholders, and PLACE/DPH staff.
How is the Healthy Policies Initiative
Funded?
The first round of HPI was funded by Kaiser Permanente,
The California Endowment and the federal Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention from 2010 to 2012. The
second round of HPI will be made possible with funding
from the Centers for Disease through the Los Angeles
County Department of Public Health and will be from
2013-2015.
Which cities did we work with in our first
round of the Healthy Policies Project?
From 2010-2012, we partnered with the following cities
in Los Angeles County to develop these plans:
Lynwood: Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan
–The City of Lynwood developed their first ever
city-wide Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan which
proposes a network of designated pedestrian improvements
and bicycle routes. Many of the proposed improvements
feature innovative approaches to increase the safety for
people walking and biking in the city.
Huntington Park: Safe Routes to School Plan
–The City of Huntington Park chose to developa Safe
Routes to School Plan for Middleton Elementary School
and Middleton Primary Center. Once the plan was
developed, the City, with help a DPH-funded expert
consultant, submitted a grant application to the State’s
Safe Routes to School program. To identify the unsafe
walking and biking routes to school, the City and the
consultant organized a workshop with parents and school
staff. Huntington Park was awarded Safe Routes to School
Grant for $250,000.
South Gate: Safe Routes to School –The
City of South Gate developed a Safe Routes to School
Plan for South Gate Middle School, which had an
unusually large number of students enrolled and a high
injury and collision rate surrounding the school area. A
key part of the plan’s development was holding a
workshop with parents and school staff to identify the
unsafe walking and biking routes to school. They
submitted the completed plan to the State’s Safe Routes
to School program and were awarded a Safe Routes to
School Grant for $450,000.
Pomona: Active Transportation Plan –
The City of Pomona had already set aside funds to
develop a Bike Master Plan. They decided to leverage a
partnership with PLACE to expand their Bike Master Plan
to include a pedestrian chapter that includes a strategy
to prioritize the construction of missing sidewalks and
recommendations to improve the walkability of several
intersections. Together, these bicycle and pedestrian
improvement recommendations will constitute the City’s
Active Transportation Plan. The Active Transportation
Plan has been incorporated into the city’s draft general
plan which is currently under environmental review.