How do you pull off a first virtual conference during times of uncertainty without pulling your hair out? Patiently…very patiently. That was the mindset of Wholespire staff who were planning the virtual Leadership Summit for Healthy Communities + Youth Edition and learning how to execute a virtual conference.
At the direction of the Summit Planning Committee, Wholespire staff embarked on its first ever virtual conference in December 2020 with the search for a virtual platform. While virtual conferences were still new for many organizations at the time, it was just as new for platform developers. But, staff managed to find a platform that worked out fairly well in the end.
For the next four-and-a-half months, the work began. From pulling together the call for speakers to thinking about fun and engaging things to do, staff were constantly brainstorming and finalizing the details.
“I think the hardest part of planning a virtual conference is remembering what our in-person conference offered attendees,” said Brandie Freeman, communications and marketing manager at Wholespire. “I had to keep reminding myself that we could still provide networking opportunities, physical activity breaks, and interaction with the speakers. We just had to figure out how to do that.”
In the end, it all came together with two intimidating things – technology and the unknown. During the two half-days on May 12-13, staff came together for the first time in over a year to run the virtual Leadership Summit + Youth Edition.
“While scattered about our office building, we stayed pretty busy greeting speakers behind the scenes on Zoom, clicking buttons to play videos, going live for some of us, and engaging with attendees through session chat boxes,” said Meg Stanley, executive director at Wholespire. “It was quite the fun yet uncertain scene, but we made it through with flying colors.”
Evaluations seemed to repeat some common thoughts: ease of use, accessibility, inclusivity, engaging sessions, great speakers, and chat box features to name a few. Of those who completed an evaluation, results were:
54% rated the Summit excellent; 38% good; and 4% average.
94% said they would attend the Summit again.
74% said they would recommend the Summit to a colleague or friend.
The Summit featured three keynote speakers: Gullah/Geechee Nation Chieftess Queen Quet on May 12; Dr. Kathryn Silva Hyde on May 13; and By the Hand Club for Kids & Austin Harvest youth on May 13. Attendees gave high marks on all three keynote speakers:
62% were very satisfied with Queen Quet.
92% were very satisfied with Dr. Kathryn Silva Hyde.
76% were very satisfied with By the Hand Club for Kids & Austin Harvest youth.
During the call for speakers and conference registration processes, Wholespire staff ensured speaker and audience demographics were asked to help ensure the event would be diverse, equitable, and representative of the communities served. While demographic questions were optional, a surprising number of people completed them. Here’s a glimpse into what it revealed:
56% of registrants were first-time attendees.
75% represented South Carolina, while 25% represented other states.
1% represented the Buddhist community.
5% represented the LGBTQ+ community.
1.1% represented the Hispanic, Latinx or Spanish Origin ethnicities.
“With this and much more audience demographic information in hand, we can use it to increase outreach and partnerships with specific communities and groups around the state,” said Stanley. “We can even increase inclusivity on our social media platforms by promoting health observances, events, and webinars that speak directly to these types of groups.”
So, what’s next for the Leadership Summit for Healthy Communities? The planning committee will reconvene soon to determine the 2022 date and platform. All data collected in evaluations will be used to ensure another great event. If you would like to join the planning committee, email brandie@wholespire.org.
Today, the park equity movement in the U.S. is at a turning point. Parks and other green spaces are crucial for the health and wellbeing of communities—a fact made even clearer during the pandemic. But not all communities have access to these vital resources. Correcting inequities demands advocates’ utmost attention, urgency, and action. A new approach to achieving park equity can unlock transformation and usher in an era in which African American, Latino, and low-income urban communities are fair, just, and green.
Across the U.S., a growing number of jurisdictions are adopting park and green space equity policies. These include public finance measures that have an equity focus, park agency organizational changes, documentation of green space needs and inequities, joint use policies for school yards, land use policies that facilitate access to green space, policies and ordinances requiring community engagement for park development, and anti-displacement provisions within green space equity initiatives. But in many low-income communities of color, longstanding green space inequities remain. A growing movement of park equity advocates—including community members exercising their own power—is working to change that.
In the new paper, Changing the Landscape: People, Parks, and Power, Prevention Institute and Alessandro Rigolon of the University of Utah propose an approach to park and green space equity that prioritizes investing in the capacity of people closest to the problem so that they can drive policy and systems changes that will achieve population-level impacts. Support for this paper was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Key takeaways of Changing the Landscape: People, Parks, and Power are below. Please join us for a free webinar on Wednesday, July 28 at 10:00am Pacific Time to learn about these points in more depth and hear an update on the planning of RWJF’s new national funding initiative on park and green space equity.
Urban parks and green spaces protect public health by providing opportunities for physical activity, time in nature, social connection, and respite. Parks also filter air, remove pollution, cool temperatures, and filter stormwater.
African Americans, Latinos, and people who live in low-income, urban neighborhoods have less access to parks and green spaces than people who live in more affluent or predominantly white communities.
These inequities are the product of policies and practices like residential segregation, redlining, racially biased planning decisions, and exclusionary zoning, as well as problematic narratives and ways of working in the green space field that have often excluded or tokenized communities of color.
The traditional approach to addressing these inequities has focused on developing new parks or green infrastructure projects or improving existing projects. While project development is crucial, a sole focus on individual projects fails to address the existing system that produces—and will continue to produce—green space inequities.
To address the root causes of green space inequities, the parks and green space field should embrace upstream policy and systems change.
Power drives policy and systems change. Building the skills, capacity, and power of residents who live in park-poor neighborhoods is key to achieving green space equity.
Park and green space inequities will persist until the systems, policies, power dynamics, and narratives that produced these inequities in the first place are redesigned to produce equitable outcomes. By embracing the approach described in Changing the Landscape: People, Parks, and Power, advocates and jurisdictions can solve pervasive, structural inequities and support healthy, vibrant communities.
Dr. Megan Weis receiving the Gerry Sue Arnold Alumni Award during the annual hooding ceremony.
Wholespire Board of Directors Vice Chairman Dr. Megan Weis was recently awarded the Gerry Sue Arnold Alumni Award during the annual hooding ceremony at the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health. The award is given to one alumni each year whose work has both made a difference to the public health profession and in the health of an identified community or population.
Dr. Weis has served on the Wholespire board of directors since 2017, and she has contributed vastly to the growth and sustainability of the non-profit organization. In the absence of an executive director, Dr. Weis was part of a team of board members who provided guidance and leadership to the Wholespire staff.
Dr. Weis is a two-time alumna of the Arnold School’s Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior – graduating with a Master of Public Health in 2002 and then a Doctor of Public Health in 2012. Between her degrees, Weis worked for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control ‘s (SC DHEC) Pregnancy and Risk Assessment Monitoring System and Injury and Violence Prevention division.
In 2007 – the same year she began her doctoral studies – Weis co-founded the South Carolina Institute of Medicine and Public Health, where she worked for more than 12 years. In 2020, she joined the UofSC School of Medicine as a research assistant professor and as director of community engagement with the SC Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare. In addition to serving on numerous committees and task forces to improve health throughout the state, Weis has taught many courses as an Arnold School adjunct faculty member.
For her efforts, Weis has been recognized with the Health Education Professional of the Year Award (South Carolina Association for the Advancement of Health Education, 2007), the President’s Award (SC Public Health Association (SCPHA), 2010) for establishing a student forum that later became the student section, and the Lucinda Thomas Award for Outstanding Contributions in Community Health (SCPHA, 2013). In both 2007 and 2017, Weis received SCPHA’s Michael D. Jarrett Excellence in Customer Service Award, and in 2019, she won the James A. Hayne Award and The Voice of Public Health Award from SCPHA.
Eat Smart Move More SC, a statewide nonprofit leader in increasing access to healthy eating and active living choices in communities across South Carolina, announced today it is changing its name to Wholespire. The name change comes with a complete rebranding, including a new logo and tagline, and was unveiled to over 200 stakeholders and attendees during the organization’s annual leadership conference.
According to Meg Stanley, Eat Smart Move More’s executive director, the rebrand’s purpose is to more effectively illuminate its advocacy and support of local initiatives that inspire wellness in all communities.
“The name Wholespire reflects how coming together to increase access to wellness in communities creates unification and wholeness,” explains Stanley. “It conveys our work to inspire wellness across our state in an equitable manner.” “Our new name and look capture our efforts to bring about lasting and healthy change for so many who aspire to wellness but lack access to the key components of health. It’s a refresh on our goal to make whole health a possibility for all South Carolinians as we inform, engage and influence decision-makers to include health in policy decisions.”
Eat Smart Move More SC worked with Trio Solutions Inc., a Mount Pleasant-based marketing agency, to conduct research to evaluate and launch its new brand. The new brand project was one of five key initiatives in the nonprofit’s strategic plan and focuses on the organization’s evolving public health work and leadership position as an advocate for collaborative initiatives that change the makeup of South Carolina for the better.
Since 2007, Wholespire, formerly Eat Smart Move More SC, has brought lasting and healthy change to communities across South Carolina through advocacy, youth engagement and community action. Wholespire, a statewide nonprofit, focuses on inspiring wellness through its 26 chapters across 31 counties, collectively impacting 93 percent of South Carolina’s population.
On March 8 2021, South Carolina’s COVID-19 Vaccination Plan advanced to Phase 1b. One of the qualifying criteria for those eligible to receive the vaccine during this phase is, “People with increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease”. This includes people with high-risk medical conditions ranging from cancer to Down syndrome to pregnancy. An obesity diagnosis is also one of the high-risk medical conditions listed as an eligible factor to receive the vaccine. To understand whether you qualify as someone with obesity, you need to know your Body Mass Index (BMI), as well as how to calculate it.
So what is BMI and how do you calculate it?
BMI is the acronym for Body Mass Index. It is a long-standing screening method to determine whether someone is a healthy weight. Knowing your BMI is important and there are three relatively simple methods one can use to determine this:
Use an automated calculator to determine your BMI, such as this: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html
To calculate BMI using a calculator, divide weight in pounds (lbs) by height in inches (in) squared and then multiply by a conversion factor of 703. For example, weight (lb) / [height (in)]² x 703
To calculate without a square function on your calculator, divide weight by height twice and then multiply by 703. For example, calculate as follows: [weight (lb)/ height (in)/ height (in)] x 703
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines any adult with a BMI exceeding 30 to be obese. In South Carolina, approximately 35% of South Carolinians are eligible for the vaccine based on BMI exceeding 30kg/m².
It has become increasingly obvious throughout the last year of this pandemic that each individual has a very different physical response to contracting COVID-19. Based on a diagnosis of obesity, the risk of contracting the virus and showing very ill-inducing symptoms is high. Click here for more information on the risk of COVID-19 for those with an obesity diagnosis.
Let’s come together as a community and do what we can to limit the further spread of COVID-19 and improve the health outcomes for those who do contract the virus.
Wear a mask, keep your distance from others, and get vaccinated.
