Community Organizations Gather to Fight Obesity, Create State Roadmap to Health October 15, 2010

HARVEY, IL - Committed to improving the health and well-being of all people in Illinois, the Illinois Alliance to Prevent Obesity (IAPO) and the Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH) are hosting a regional forum to collect input for their State Obesity Action Roadmap. The forum is October 15, 2010, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at Ingalls Memorial Hospital: One Ingalls Drive, Harvey, IL. All community stakeholders working to prevent obesity in their communities are encouraged to attend.

During this forum, participants will generate ideas and give feedback on policy-level solutions to Illinois' growing obesity epidemic. Health department staff will engage attendees in discussions that look at potential local and statewide strategies to promote healthy eating and active living.

Through this regional forum, IAPO is obtaining input into a State Obesity Action Roadmap, which will be completed at the 2010 State Obesity Action Summit on December 3, 2010. The October 15th forum will be the third and final regional meeting in Cook County. IAPO is working with nine other communities in Illinois to present Roadmap forums.

As an organization of multi-sector partners, Illinois Alliance to Prevent Obesity engages citizens to actively participate in tackling the rising obesity epidemic in Illinois. Currently in Illinois, nearly two-thirds of adults and one-third of adolescents are overweight or obese and it's even more prevalent in suburban Cook County – with over half the adults overweight or obese and about 40% of children overweight or obese. Three in four adults do not eat the recommended amount of fresh fruit, and a large majority are not physically active. The Cook County Department of Public Health is a member of IAPO, and works collaboratively to improve the health status of citizens throughout the region by working to make the healthy choice the easy choice.

Imagine a community where stores and schools offer fresh, nutritious food and there’s space to safely bike and walk. IAPO is working to create an Illinois ‘roadmap’ of action strategies on policies and community environments to help citizens make healthy options the easy options in their everyday lives. With the endorsement of many stakeholders and sectors, the State Obesity Action Roadmap will provide solutions that increase access to healthy and affordable food, boost opportunities for physical activity and implement environmental changes to ensure a healthy future for Illinois. The Roadmap combines community voices from across the state to form a working document that pushes for change to help Illinoisans live, work and play in healthier ways.

To register, please visit http://guest.cvent.com/d/qdqvfb/4W.