Mayors gather in Boston to discuss sustainable wellness strategies.

Mayors and other local officials from six cities convened in Boston last week for the final cross-site meeting of the City and School Leaders Collaborating on Local Wellness Policies technical assistance initiative, a project sponsored by NLC's Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF). Participating cities included Charleston, S.C.; Jackson, Tenn.; La Mesa, Calif.; Oakland, Calif.; San Antonio; and Savannah, Ga.

Hosted in partnership with the American Association for School Administrators (AASA) and with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Leadership for Healthy Communities program, the meeting focused on strategies for sustainable implementation of citywide wellness policies.

Sustainable Strategies

Convening the meeting in Boston offered an excellent opportunity to highlight the host city's successful wellness strategies.

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"We are united in our commitment to help all children reach their potential," said Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. "The health and well-being of the kids in Boston public schools are critical."

Mayor Menino welcomed the six city-school teams and kicked off the two-day meeting by leading the first panel discussion with the city health commissioner and vice chair of the Boston School Committee. This panel highlighted the city's three-pronged approach of ensuring access to healthy foods, creating safe opportunities for physical activity and improving family health and nutrition education.

One of the innovative local programs that project teams visited was the Boston Schoolyard Initiative, a partnership by the city, school district and Boston Schoolyard Funders Collaborative that has refurbished 71 public schoolyards. At a cost of $75,000 for each site, these schoolyards are converted into spaces in which children can be healthy and physically active as well as learn outdoor science lessons by growing vegetables and other plants.

"It's really about respecting children," said Kim Comart, interim manager of the collaborative. "A schoolyard of asphalt that's filled with broken glass and trash sends a message to kids that we don't care."

The mayor and superintendent from the neighboring City of Somerville, Mass., also participated in the meeting and shared their insights on Shape Up Somerville, a comprehensive citywide wellness policy.

Both Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone and Mayor Menino emphasized three critical elements for sustainability of these policies: committed leadership that is able to bring together the right stakeholders; a strategy that moves beyond individual program responses toward policy and system change; and engaged partners that are able to leverage resources.

According to Mayor Menino, "Mayors have to show commitment in their involvement. Set your priorities, show you're serious, be persistent."

Citing the high long-term costs of childhood obesity, Mayor Curtatone asked, "How can you afford not to do this?"

Partners and Resources for Sustainability

After participating in the year-long technical assistance project, each of the six city teams have learned a great deal about how to sustain their wellness strategies, particularly the importance of engagement and retention of key stakeholders. Municipal officials from several of the cities discussed steps they have taken to engage the local business community, universities, parents, youth and other residents.

"Our youth commission was instrumental in this initiative," said La Mesa Mayor Art Madrid, as he discussed the CX3 project that was part of the city's comprehensive wellness strategy. "Now all these great things are going to happen--building sidewalks, creating a walkable city."

Experts from foundations and national organizations, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, California Endowment and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also talked to the project cities about their current and future multi-year investments in local wellness efforts. These investments and resources include Active Living by Design, Healthy Eating Active Community and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

Lessons Learned

During the next phase of its work on wellness issues, the YEF Institute will work with AASA to document lessons learned from each of the six city teams' successes and challenges in implementing wellness strategies.

One key takeaway emerging from the meeting Was the importance of a coordinating foundation or entity to implement citywide wellness policies.

Some participants also discussed how their cities and school districts are dividing work between tactical and policy teams. Other strategies mentioned involved connecting wellness committees to an existing citywide youth master plan.

Details: To learn more about this project and other YEF Institute resources on local wellness and childhood obesity, Visit www.nlc.org/iyef or contact Leon Andrews at andrews@nlc.org or (202) 626-3039.