A Houston/Harris County Childhood Obesity Prevention Collaborative 
June 2015  /  Issue XXXI
In This Issue

Upcoming Events


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National Collaboration of Funders Award Harris County a BUILD Health Challenge Grant!BUILD
 
A partnership born out of the Healthy Living Matters (HLM) Collaborative has been selected as one of the 18 recipients for the BUILD Health Challenge award. A $250,000 award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kresge Foundation, de Beaumont Foundation and The Advisory Board Company will help eliminate the conditions that cause food insecurity in north Pasadena. This will be done through the creation of a community-supported local food system that impacts the production, distribution and consumption of healthy food.  Click here to watch a short video.  

The Harris County BUILD Health Partnership is an extension of HLM and the new food system will directly line up with two HLM policy priorities - Encourage use of available public lands in Harris County for the develop of community gardens and farmers markets (E4) and Support a community health literacy strategy (L2). For a full list of HLM policy priorities click here. 

 
For a larger view of this map, click here. 

 

For more on the national BUILD Health Challenge, click here.  

 

The primary partners of the Harris County BUILD Health Partnership are:

  1. Houston Food Bank
  2. Harris County Public Health & Environmental Services
  3. MD Anderson Cancer Center

Additional partners are:

  1. CHI St. Luke's Health
  2. Memorial Hermann
  3. Brighter Bites
  4. CAN DO Houston
  5. City of Pasadena
  6. Neighborhood Centers Inc.
  7. Pasadena Health Center
  8. UT School of Public Health 
Legislative Updates Legislative

We had a tough legislative session with many HLM and related bills not passing due to slow movement and time running out, while other issues such as the budget, tax cuts, open carry and campus carry of handguns, border security, ethics reform, higher education, and transportation took precedent.   

 

One issue of interest that did pass was Governor Abbott's prekindergarten bill. The plan will improve existing pre-K programs by offering money to implement certain teacher quality and curriculum measures over the next two years.  

 

Instead of being on the offense, unfortunately we had to play defense but we were successful in defeating a bill to repeal the Fitnessgram program in public schools. In addition, a bill to promote breastfeeding for state employees, HB 786 by Walle, passed and is awaiting Gov. Abbott's signature. Unfortunately a broader breastfeeding bill, HB 232 by Farrar, did not pass.  

 

For more information on this legislative session, contact Tim Schauer at [email protected].  
Houston Bike Plan: Your Feedback is Needed! HoustonBikePlan


An update to the Houston Bike Plan is underway and the City of Houston wants your feedback.  

 

Please join them for one of their upcoming public meetings:

  • Tuesday, June 16th from 6PM - 8PM, HCC Memorial City Performing Arts Center, Theater II, Room 211,1060 W. Sam Houston Pkwy N., Houston, TX 77043. RSVP on Facebook.
  • Tuesday, June 23rd from 6PM - 8PM, Baker-Ripley Neighborhood Center, 6500 Rookin St, Houston, TX 77074. RSVP on Facebook. 

 

To learn more about the Houston Bike Plan, visit houstonbikeplan.org .   
Growing Healthy Texas Training Events GrowingHealthyTexas

HLM is partnering with Texas SNAP-Ed and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) on their Growing Healthy Texas regional training events. These events are free and will be held at six Texas cities on the following dates:
  • July 7 & 8 in Brownsville, TX
  • July 23 & 24 in Amarillo, TX
  • August 6 & 7 in San Angelo, TX
  • August 20 & 21 in Fort Worth, TX
  • September 2 & 3 in Corpus Christi, TX
  • September 10 & 11 in San Marcos, TX 
These training events support community efforts to foster healthy lifestyles and positive health outcomes by emphasizing nutrition and physical activity and by collaborating via community coalitions. HLM will be presenting on Healthy Living Matters and local Pasadena efforts at the Fort Worth, Corpus Christi and San Marcos events, so make sure to come by and see us! 

The Growing Healthy Texas training events are aimed at local stakeholders who are interested in collaborative, community-based efforts dedicated to positive health outcomes through nutrition and physical activity. 

For more information about these events or to register, visit growinghealthytexas.com.  
Featured Resource: The 2015 Rising Star Application is Now Open! Resource

 

The Michael and Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living is excited to announce that the 2015 Rising Star Award application period is now open! The Rising Star Award will be presented to two young Texans (13-15 and 16-18 years of age) who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in his or her community in an effort to raise awareness and reduce the burden of obesity.

To download the application, click here. The deadline for applications is July 31, 2015. For more information, contact Heather Atteberry at [email protected]. 
UPCOMING EVENTS Events
  

It's Time Texas Summit 

Monday, June 15 - Tuesday, June 16, 2015

JW Marriott Austin, Austin, TX 

More information 

 

Near Northside GO Health Meeting
Tuesday, June 16, 2015 from 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
MD Anderson YMCA, 705 Cavalcade, Houston, TX 77009
For more information, contact Jennifer Wagley

Houston Bike Plan Community Meeting
Tuesday, June 16, 2015 from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
HCC Memorial City Performing Arts Center, 1060 W. Sam Houston Pkwy, Houston, TX 77043
More information

Houston Bike Plan Community Meeting
Tuesday, June 23, 2015 from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Baker-Ripley Neighborhood Center, 6500 Rookin, Houston, TX 77074
More information      

 

Webinar: When Safe Routes to School Meets Violence Prevention

Thursday, June 25, 2015 from 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

More information  

 

HLM Quarterly Collaborative Meeting

Wednesday, July 22, 2015 from 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

DePelchin Children's Center, 4950 Memorial Dr, Houston, TX 77007

For more information or to RSVP, contact us at [email protected] 

 

To view more events, visit our Calendar of Events webpage.