When the place where we live makes it easy for everyone to exercise and eat well, fewer people will suffer from injury, cancer, diabetes, stroke, heart and lung disease. Our goal is to help shape our communities to support health and well-being. To do this we:
promote safe, pleasant and accessible places for all people to walk, roll or bicycle
promote use of public transit
ensure access to healthy and affordable food
ensure safe, quality housing
We work with community organizations, municipal and regional planners, schools and health care providers. We begin with conversations to learn what is important to our community. From there, we find ways to weave in health and wellness improvements that fit the priorities of our towns, such as economic development. All Vermonters will thrive when our living conditions help to eliminate differences in health for different groups of people.
We work directly with schools to promote Safe Routes to School, a program that helps kids safely walk and bike to school.
Brattleboro Coalition for Active Transportation
We support the Brattleboro Coalition for Active Transportation, a group of local residents who work to improve walking and biking in Brattleboro. The Safe Streets Committee in Brattleboro meets six times a year and works with the Town of Brattleboro and the Traffic Safety Committee.
Physical Activity
We lead the Fit and Healthy Kids Coalition of Windham County, which works to foster practices, programs, and policies that engage the community in raising fit and healthy kids. This coalition meets monthly.
Our staff serve on the Windham Regional Commission Transportation Committee, which serves to review and evaluate transportation policy recommendations to support the development of safe and efficient transportation in Windham County. We collaborated with the Windham Regional Commission to develop trail resource guides for both walking and snowshoeing. The Windham on the Move program received funding to provide snowshoes to many area libraries to increase access to outdoor winter activity for local community members.
We collaborate with RiseVT to amplify opportunities for families and youth to participate in physical activities.
Planning for Prevention Primer
Our staff works alongside a number of Windham County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalitions and the Windham Regional Commission, and together they created the Planning for Prevention Primer. The primer serves as a reference document for towns as they revise and rewrite their town plans and provides particular guidance and information on how to incorporate language around substance abuse prevention and the principles and practices of healthy community design.
3-4-50 Prevent Chronic Disease
What does 3-4-50 mean?
3 behaviors – lack of physical activity, poor diet, and tobacco use – lead to 4 chronic diseases – cancer, heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes, and lung disease – that are the cause of more than 50 percent of all deaths in Vermont.
This understanding inspires us to take action. Communities that are built to support physical activity, safe walking and biking, use of public transportation, and easy access to fresh foods are essential for good health.
