Making healthy choices easy: For Santa Clara County’s Community Transformation Grant (CTG) it comes down into a few words, according to Angelina Aguirre, owner of Creative Mundo Consulting, who is spearheading the multipronged effort.
The $1 million CTG grant involves South County: United For Health, Santa Clara County Public Health Department, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others.
The event’s success shined center spotlight during the July 18 Gilroy Party in the Park Event, organizers said.
“Making the healthy choice the easy choice—that’s what we’re all about,” Aguirre said.
Efforts around the San Ysidro Park area demonstrate policy changes in motion, community assessment, neighbor and observational surveys. Parks are just one example, but the program spans public and private sector focus alike. What’s key is getting down to the nitty-gritty: finding out what the prohibitive issues that keep people out and addressing them, said Bonnie Broderick, senior health care program manager for the County of Santa Clara. “What we’re seeing is that people want to take back parks as a place where families can go.”
The grant’s efforts span public places at-large, as well as private spaces from a small office to building a soccer programs. It targets key criminal preventive strategies like tobacco-free living, active living, healthy and safe environments and social and emotional wellness. Some real-world examples of CTG-funded applications are as simple as signing up to dispense non-sugary drinks or implementing anti-illegal tobacco-related ordinances.
According to Broderick, one way of looking at the program is a systems or sector approach to change involving schools, cities, worksite environments and those places where wellness is critical “for the health of the people they serve or their workforce.”
The overarching goal of CTG is to improve the health of home, school, work and community environments so all South County residents can thrive, according to Aguirre.
One of the CTG strategies is to enlist 24 businesses and CBOs in South County to adopt healthier practices in the workplace. The first step is to recruit organizations to commit to taking a baseline survey that will assess their health practices. The Santa Clara County Public Health Department will use the results of the survey to support businesses in improving healthy practices, policies and options in the workplace, Aguirre said.
Grant organizers are putting on a worksite wellness luncheon Sept. 29 at Mama Mia’s Restaurant, 275 E. Dunne Ave. in Morgan Hill. For more information on the program visit sccgov.org.
