FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Contact: Dean Grandin 407-246-2269

CITY OF ORLANDO MOVES INTO ACTION
TO INCREASE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Project Receives $200,000 Grant to Promote Active Living


ORLANDO, FL (November 13, 2003) -- The City of Orlando has received a $200,000 grant to support Orlando’s Active Living Initiative, a local partnership developed to increase active living and encourage healthier lifestyles in the downtown area.

The new initiative is part of Active Living by Design, a national program established to create, enhance and promote environments that make it safe and convenient for people to be more physically active. Funding for the project is provided by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“We are pleased to be one of 25 partnerships across the country selected for this honor,” said Dean Grandin, director of city planning for Orlando. “With our community partners, we will be aiming to help people make physical activity part of their daily routines.”

With the five-year, $200,000 grant, Orlando’s Active Living Initiative will create and implement a community active living plan. The first year’s work program calls for the preparation of a community audit to assess Active Living deficiencies and potential opportunities. Audit results, paired with an analysis of best practices, will be the basis for Orlando’s Community Active Living Plan. The plan will include policy recommendations to improve safety and accessibility; promotional events and outreach activities to engage residents; programs (e.g. bike safety education and walking clubs) to encourage physical activity; and physical improvements (e. g. bikeways, sidewalks and parks) to provide new Active Living opportunities. Plan elements will be implemented within five years.

The need for such an initiative is clear. The Community Health Assessment conducted by the Winter Park Health Foundation and the Community Health Improvement Council (October, 2000) revealed that over one-half (53.7%) of the adults in the Greater Metropolitan Orlando Area were overweight, including 19.7% defined as obese. This study also found that our area ranked worse than the state and national averages for the percentage of adults who lead sedentary lifestyles (57.4% versus 53.7% statewide and 52.8% nationwide). According to the study, over 22% of adults in our area reported no leisure time physical activity in the past month. This lack of leisure time physical activity is most often reported among women, older adults, those living at lower incomes and Non-whites. Nearly 70% of Hispanic residents and 46% of African American residents reported sedentary lifestyles.

“Community design and limited transportation choice often prevent people from leading physically active lives," said Richard Killingsworth, director of Active Living by Design. “The Active Living Initiative grant supports an innovative partnership that will create places, programs and policies that make physical activity something everyone can access and enjoy.”

Orlando’s Active Living Initiative is being driven by a host of local and regional, private, public and nonprofit organizations, focused on health, senior issues, community development, planning, communication, education, transportation and recreation. Representatives of these organizations are experts in assessment, public relations / marketing, research, program development and evaluation. The Healthy Community Initiative of Greater Orlando (HCI) will be serving as consultant to the City in providing technical assistance and oversight for the project.

Active Living by Design is a $16.5 million national program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is based at the School of Public Health at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. More information about Active Living by Design can be found at www.activelivingbydesign.org.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in Princeton, N.J., is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.
 

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