Over 40 people from around the state involved in the fields of transportation planning, public health, economic development, community planning, and trails and open space came together to help build connections across these sectors with the purpose of increasing coordination of walkability and community mobility efforts. Representatives from various state agencies, Councils of Governments, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, non-profits, and consultants were in attendance.
National public health, planning, and transportation experts, Mark Fenton and his team presented how best to design walkable communities for people of all ages and abilities and how community design can influence health, safety, and local development. An Olympic race-walker, MIT-trained engineer, former host of PBS’ America’s Walking, and author of The Complete Guide to Walking for Health, Weight Loss, and Fitness, Mark has led training and planning processes for pedestrian-, bicycle-, and transit-friendly designs in communities across the U.S., Canada, and Australia.
Mark Fenton explains to participants how to engage the community in walkability solutions.
Kicking off the workshop, participants were asked to recall their earliest, positive recollection of being physically active. Their answers emphasized the change in play over the years with more youth moving away from being “free-range kids” who enjoyed outdoor play and exploration without adult supervision, walked or biked to school or interacted with friends, and played games with no formal uniforms or referees. This shift has influenced concerning trends in childhood obesity. Less than 5% of all children in the 1960s were considered overweight or obese, while today 23% of South Carolina’s children ages 6-17 fall into that category (Source: Trust for America’s Health).
However, improving walkability in communities is not just about physical activity. It affects citizens’ health and quality of life, the environment, social justice priorities, and community economic advancement. Can the design of our communities actually influence population health and community outcomes? Mark and his team highlighted that policy change leads to more active transportation infrastructure, which directly impacts a community’s health improvements.
Physical activity support occurs on three scales:
Providing a variety of destinations within close proximity;
Linking a network of pedestrian, bike, and transit facilities; and
Ensuring active transportation options are safe, functional, and accessible for all.
Equipped with this information, participants broke out into small groups by industry sector to discuss their roles in advancing active transportation, specifically what they should accomplish in the short-term and what is needed in order for them to be successful. One catch: the answer couldn’t be “more money!”
Workshop participants on a walk audit in downtown Columbia.
A highlight of the day was a 1.5-mile walk audit around downtown Columbia. Mark encouraged participants to take this exercise back to their own communities as an effective and inclusive community engagement tool that can reach all ages, races, income levels, and abilities. Walk audits integrate going to everyday community destinations where people live and work while paying particular attention to land use, the network of facilities, site design, and safety.
The workshop concluded with a call to action and commitment. Over 90% of participants affirmed they are very or extremely willing to contribute to a statewide collaborative to advance equitable active transportation by providing or sharing information and helping to make connections. A central theme was the need for more detailed and sharing of data as the workshop reinforced that the key to success in this work is more interdisciplinary participation. The group left energized and ready to be a part of this important priority in our state.
Stay tuned for more as Wholespire continues to play an integral role in inspiring wellness in all communities!
For this blog post, we’re organizing project examples by these categories: Activity-Friendly Communities, Access to Healthy Food, Healthy School Environments and Youth Engagement.Staff share their expertise, or technical assistance, within several sectors of community: municipalities, state agencies, coalitions, schools, faith-based organizations and other nonprofit organizations.
Below is an incompletelist of community-level projectsWholespirehas supported with mini-grants. The list features examples of PSE projects implemented by various communities across South Carolina. All focus areas marked with an asterisk (*) indicatea level of partnership and collaboration with local government and regulatory agenciesrequired to complete the projects.
Activity-Friendly Communities
Activity-friendly communities are vibrant spaceswhere people of all ages and abilities can easily and safely enjoy walking, bicycling, rolling and other forms of active transportationand recreation.Communities must be thoughtfully designed and include policies, systems, and environmental supports that allow daily active transportation and recreation.
Focus Area
Project/Tactic
Items Funded
Bicycle and Pedestrian Routes and Trails
Provide adequate signage to improve pedestrian safety
Safety signs, paint and other tools
Install way-finding signage
Signs, posts, hardware and installation costs
Create maps of community/ neighborhood walking and biking routes
Purchase outdoor exercise system equipment/stations
Parks, Playgrounds and Other Recreational Facilities
Provide bike racks at recreational facilities, schools, and businesses
Purchase and installation costs
Provide benches at parks, paved walking paths, playgrounds, ADA picnic tables, etc.
Purchase and installation costs
Improve park/recreational facilities
Recreational equipment such as basketball goals, soccer goals, playground equipment, balls, and other needs
Create inclusive play spaces for people with disabilities
Sensory panels, inclusive swings, and other inclusive play equipment; ramps, braille and sign language signs; accessible drinking water fountains/water bottle refill stations
Improve accessibility and ADA compliance
Rubber mats for playgrounds, ADA signs, ramps, and other needs
Create or upgrade a community basketball court
Land grading, concrete, basketball goals, paint, stencils, supplies to repair cracks on surface
Create a disc golf course
Disc golf backets, disc golf frisbees, equipment needed for installation
Paint and supplies for curbs, crosswalks and other safety areas
Effective Student Pick-up and Drop-off Design
Signs to define areas in drop-off and pick-up zones and explain their proper use
Enhanced Visibility Crosswalks/ re-painting of crosswalks leading to the school
Stencils, paint, supplies
Crossing Guard Supplies/Safety Equipment
Reflective vests, stop/go handheld signs, portable stop/go/slow signs and other safety equipment
Improve school traffic safety during drop off and pick up
Supplies for road surface markings, curb markings, delineators, colored pavements, and traffic channelizing devices, lights for portico
Access to Drinking Water
Ensure drinking water is available in public spaces
Water bottle refill stations, accessible drinking water fountains, water fountains featuring a dog bowl
Access to Healthy Food
Access to healthy food refers to the availability, affordability, and consistency of foods and beverages that promote well-being and prevent chronic disease. Areas that lack access to healthy foods are known as food deserts. Ensuring access to healthy food is an important element of an equitable food system, one in which those most vulnerable and those living in low-income neighborhoods, communities of color, and rural and tribal communities can fully participate, prosper, and benefit.
Focus Area
Project/Tactic
Items Funded
Farmer’s Markets
Establish new farmers’ markets
Sandwich boards, employee/farmer aprons, SNAP/WIC processing equipment and Wi-Fi hot spots, signage, SNAP/WIC promotional signs
Increase access for people with disabilities
Paint and signs for parking, materials and supplies for curb ramps
Mobile markets
Accept SNAP, WIC, Senior SNAP and Healthy Bucks
SNAP/WIC processing equipment and Wi-Fi hotspots, SNAP/WIC promotional signs
Community Gardens
Create or expand a network of community gardens
Materials to build gardening beds: lumber, cement blocks, planting soil, mulch; Water meter and backflow gauge, signage, Gardening tools (rakes, hoes, etc.), tiller
Other food access projects
Provide free gleaned produce stations at a local, public facility
Shelves, baskets, bins and other food storage supplies, chalkboard signs
Healthy School Environments
Promoting healthy eating and active living in the school environment is crucial for the overall well-being of students and staff. When students have nutritious meals and are physically active, their performance and attention span reflect those elements of healthy school environments. A healthy school environment applies to the indoor and outdoor environments of the school and the surrounding environments.
Paint and supplies for curbs, crosswalks and other safety areas
Effective Student Pick-up and Drop-off Design
Signs to define areas in drop-off and pick-up zones and explain their proper use
Enhanced Visibility Crosswalks/ re-painting of crosswalks leading to the school
Stencils, paint, supplies
Crossing Guard Supplies/Safety Equipment
Reflective vests, stop/go handheld signs, portable stop/go/slow signs and other safety equipment
Improve school traffic safety during drop off and pick up
Supplies for road surface markings, curb markings, delineators, colored pavements, and traffic channelizing devices, lights for portico
Access to Drinking Water
Retrofit and install safe water sources
Water refill stations, water fountains, accessible water fountains
Transform the physical environment to increase students’ PA and other pro-social learning and play behaviors
Improve outdoor playground equipment
Purchase PA equipment, such as slides, swings, ladders, and various climbing structures for students to interact with; upgrade basketball goals
Increase the variety of outdoor play options
Add painted play spaces or markings to the playground
Create active pathways in hallways and walkways
Stencils, paint and other materials
Create inclusive spaces for people with disabilities
Purchase grip volleyballs, ringing volleyballs and other specialty balls and play equipment for kids with disabilities, smooth surfaces likes rubber mats
Create an Outdoor Classroom
Picnic tables, benches, and other materials
Youth Engagement (The HYPE Project®)
Engaging youth in community health improvement can be a driving force for change. Through the Healthy Young People Empowerment (HYPE) Project®, youth develop critical thinking skills, build relationships with community stakeholders and have fun learning practical ways to create policy, systems and environmental (PSE) changes. Youth can implement any of the projects mentioned above; however, below are examples of HYPE civic action projects Wholespire has funded.
Focus Area
Project/Tactic
Items Funded
School-based PSE Projects
Mobile Breakfast Carts
Food cart, wrapping for cart
Improve pedestrian and bicycling safety of students
Supplies for conducting a walkability assessment
Community-based PSE Projects
Update a local park
Benches, trash receptables, benches, paint and supplies, park signs
Upgrade a community basketball court
Basketball goals, paint, stencils, supplies to repair cracks on surface
Playground improvements
Volleyball net, disability swings, trash receptables, benches, paint and supplies, park signs
The saying “Together we are better” is easier said than done. Discover how statewide organizations overcome challenges to lead partnerships with limited capacity and resources. Join them as they share insights on balancing short-term activities with a long-term vision of a state where quality of life is a priority, and everyone has an equitable opportunity to thrive. Gain valuable lessons, insights into obstacles, and highlights as they establish priorities, coordinate activities and measure impact across the state.
New and Emerging Research on HEAL will give you the opportunity to hear from an expert in South Carolina on some of the research that he is a part of through the University of South Carolina School of Public Health. Some of the topics that will be covered today are Obesity and environmental justice, the development of a Childhood Obesogenic Environment Index and its application across South Carolina counties, as well as Pedestrian and Cyclist Crashes across SC. We hope that hearing about this research will help grow your understanding about environments that support healthy behaviors and how we might address them in our state.
Dr. Andy Kaczynski is a Co-Investigator with the USC Prevention Research Center and Director of the Built Environment and Community Health (BEACH) Laboratory. In the BEACH Lab, he and his students study how the communities in which we live, work, learn, pray, and play affect the health and well-being of residents of all ages. In addition, Dr. Kaczynski’s research adopts an environmental justice approach to examine whether different population segments or geographic areas have equal access to positive resources (e.g., parks) or protection from negative amenities (e.g., fast food restaurants). Overall, research in the BEACH Lab aims to develop tools, systems, and environmental and policy interventions that engage community members and other diverse stakeholders in building neighborhoods and communities that promote physical activity, healthy eating, and obesity and chronic disease prevention.
