Let's Move! is a comprehensive initiative launched by First Lady Michelle Obama, dedicated to solving the problem of obesity within a generation by creating a healthy start for children; empowering parents and caregivers; providing healthy food in schools; improving access to healthy, affordable foods; and increasing physical activity. This webinar is an opportunity to learn about the Let’s Move initiative from the Executive Director of the national Let’s Move! initiative, Robin Schepper and about local efforts of LiveWell Colorado, a regional convergence partner, from its vice president Lisa Walvoord. It gave participants the opportunity to share their efforts in advancing place-based, multi-field, equity-focused policy and environmental change across the country; discussed how these efforts can be better connected; and where potential opportunities to work together at local, regional, and national levels.

Featured Speakers:

• Robin Schepper, Executive Director, Let’s Move Initiative (powerpoint)
• Lisa Walvoord, Vice President, Live Well Colorado (powerpoint)

This informational webinar will provide details about the Innovation Fund application process. The Convergence Partnership invites local and regional philanthropic institutions to submit proposals that will support the launch of new grant making initiatives designed to enhance the built environment and/or expand healthy food access in low-income communities and communities of color in order to improve health and promote equity. The Innovation Fund provides 50 percent matching dollars, up to $200,000 total, for a three-year period. The goal is to engage philanthropic institutions in creating robust and sustainable support for multi-field, policy and environmental change efforts emphasizing equity and community partnership.

Featured Speakers:

• Shireen Malekafzali, Associate Director, PolicyLink (powerpoint)
• Catherine Collen, Senior Philanthropic Advisor, The Tides Foundation (powerpoint)
• Curt McPhail, Program Officer, Mary Black Foundation (powerpoint)

Click here for answers to questions that webinar participants submitted via the chat function and that we were unable to answer during the live session.

This informational webinar will provide details about the Innovation Fund application process. The Convergence Partnership invites local and regional philanthropic institutions to submit proposals that will support the launch of new grant making initiatives designed to enhance the built environment and/or expand healthy food access in low-income communities and communities of color in order to improve health and promote equity. The Innovation Fund provides 50 percent matching dollars, up to $200,000 total, for a three-year period. The goal is to engage philanthropic institutions in creating robust and sustainable support for multi-field, policy and environmental change efforts emphasizing equity and community partnership.

Featured Speakers:

• Shireen Malekafzali, Associate Director, PolicyLink
• Catherine Collen, Senior Philanthropic Advisor, The Tides Foundation
• Justine Choy, Director of Grantmaking

View the entire powerpoint presentation here.

The Health Trust Click here for answers to questions that webinar participants submitted via the chat function and that we were unable to answer during the live session.

The Convergence Partnership catalyzes investments and action with a high aim—to create transformational change to achieve its vision of Healthy People, Healthy Places.

A theory of change describes the process of the transformation. This webinar will provide an overview of the Partnership’s theory of change and illustrate the destinations of progress and the route to travel on the way to actualizing its vision.

People thrive when they earn living wages and live in communities with parks and playgrounds, grocery stores selling nutritious food, and neighbors who know one another. Without a healthy environment, people are more likely to suffer from obesity or one of the many chronic diseases plaguing the United States: diabetes, asthma, and heart disease. Preventing disease and creating healthy neighborhoods requires change. Advocates from various fields are beginning to see how their work can enhance progress in other fields, and how their efforts can foster policy and environmental changes that help families and children lead healthier lives. In this webinar, we explored what it means to implement environmental and policy change strategies. Each panelists discussed innovative strategies they are implementing to create healthy communities. They touched on the successes and challenges to such efforts, and offered lessons learned.

Featured Speakers:

• Loel Solomon, Community Health Initiatives, Kaiser Permanente (powerpoint)
• Rajiv Bhatai, San Francisco Department of Public Health (powerpoint)
• Yael Lehmann, The Food Trust (powerpoint)

Health and place are inextricably linked. People are healthy when the places they live in support health. But the systems that shape communities and health are complex, from how food is grown, processed, distributed, and sold to how neighborhoods are built to the transportation systems that serve them. Creating healthy, equitable communities requires the broad expertise and influence of funders, advocates, and practitioners working across multiple fields to change these systems. This webinar explored the importance of engaging partners that extend beyond health. We heard about initiatives that involve collaboration across a broad spectrum of fields, including health, urban planning, transportation, food and sustainable agriculture, and community/economic development.

Featured Speakers:

• David D. Fukuzawa, Program Director, Kresge Foundation (powerpoint)
• Chetrice Gillon, Special Project Launch Manager, Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion, Bureau of Substance, Prevention Treatment and Recovery (powerpoint)
• Jill Fuglister, Co-Director, Coalition for a Livable Future (powerpoint)

Research Your Community is a new mapping tool available on the Healthy Food Access Portal that can help individuals and organizations better understand the communities in which they are working in to improve access to healthy food.

The tool can also be a valuable resource for your advocacy and fundraising efforts. The grocery landscape is ever changing, and data is one of many ways to paint a picture of a community’s need for healthy food access interventions. This webinar will train users about how to effectively leverage this new tool.