Home: Sites in Action: Profile: Santa Ana, Orange County

Site Profiles

Santa Ana, Orange County

Healthy Eating, Active Communities—Santa Ana

Collaborating Grantees

Latino Health Access (lead agency); Santa Ana Unified School District; and Orange County Health Care Agency. Other partners include: City Parks and Recreation; Kaiser Permanente; Santa Ana College (Dept. of Athletics); Cal OPTIMA; UCI Community Clinic; Project ALISA; KidWorks; and Hoag Memorial Hospital. Members of the collaborative have been working to address childhood obesity and diabetes for the past five years in elementary schools and the surrounding neighborhoods. The HEAC effort in Santa Ana is building on prior investments by The California Endowment, including work on access to health care and diabetes outreach.

Community Description

The Santa Ana HEAC project targets the 92701 zip code area, bordered by McFadden Avenue to the south, Seventeenth Street to the north, the 55 freeway to the east and Flower Street to the west. Ninety-two percent (92%) of the population in eight of the nine census tracts in this area is Latino. There are 61,363 residents, 68% of whom are living at or below two times the federal poverty level. According to the Orange County Community Indicators Report (2004), Hispanic youth have the highest proportion of obesity in Orange County. 34% of Santa Ana youth are overweight or obese (2004 report from California Center for Public Health Advocacy). Eleven elementary schools in the area feed into three middle schools (none of which are in 92701) and two high schools (one of which is in 92701). The area is characterized by high population density and a severe shortage of open space. Santa Ana has only 0.9 acres of open space/ 1,000 people (National Parks & Recreation suggests 10 acres/ 1,000 people and California cities average 5 acres/ 1,000).

For more information on community efforts and accomplishments please click here.

News Coverage/Awards/Campaigns

• HEAC Santa Ana was approached by Councilwoman Michele Martinez to lead a proposed "Santa Ana Health and Wellness Committee" that would focus on considering and developing "wellness" policies within the city as well as the community ("Million Pound Challenge"). Committee has not yet been formally created.
• The LA Times covered the Walk to School Day event with an environmental focus.

Key Policy Goals and Strategies

HEAC Phase I (2005-2009)

School Sector

• Implement and enforce SB 12 and 965 standards for a la carte foods and beverages district-wide.
• Enforce the required 200 minutes of PE every two weeks in schools, and include California Department of Education standards in the school district's Wellness Policy.

Neighborhood Sector

• Increase access to open space in 92701 by fostering the political will to successfully expand joint-use opportunities between the city and the school district.
• Increase access to healthy food by engaging in city-level debates regarding how best to incentivize the sales of healthy foods in mobile vending trucks and food carts in Santa Ana.
• Increase access to healthy food by working with city staff to change vending machine contracts on city property to sell 50% healthy food and beverages.

Healthcare Sector

• Promote workplace wellness by pursuing a change in Orange County Health Care Agency vending machine items sold.
• Expand health coverage to include primary and secondary prevention services.
• Conduct a Health Impact Assessment of the Santa Ana River basin.

HEAC Phase II (2009-2010)

School and After school Sector

• Train Think Together staff on District Wellness Policy and its mandates that all after school program that occur on District property or in District schools are covered under current District Wellness Policy.
• Purchase after school nutrition snacks from SAUSD Food Services that comply with federal, state and district standards.
• Educate, train and develop 6-12th grade youth leadership NAC groups in nutrition and physical activity.
• Educate, train and develop parents and parent organizations in nutrition and physical activity and the impact it has on promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Neighborhood and After School Sector

• Collaborate with Northgate market to increase fresh produce and decrease access to unhealthy foods.
• Provide training and technical assistance to Northgate Market employees and staff on implementation of worksite policies and interventions, such as Lift Off! physical activity breaks.
• Provide linkages between Northgate market and available worksite resources that promote healthy eating and physical activity.
• Identify incentives for mobile food vendors to sell fruits and vegetables and develop strategies to market the availability of fresh produce.
• Collaborate with the Grain Project to support the inclusion of community gardens in park/open space development or renovation.
• "Healthy Santa Ana" designation created to identify businesses, institutions and organizations that provide access to healthy foods and/or encourage physical activity opportunities.
• Educate legislators at city, county, and state levels on current trends in childhood obesity and access to healthy foods in Santa Ana and advocate for legislation addressing the issues.
• Identify school, police, CBO, business and city partners to support development of a Healthy and Safe Neighborhood Parks action plan.
• As part of city-wide Walk to School Day efforts, engage students and other community stakeholders to assess school/ neighborhood walking environments.
• In collaboration with the Santa Ana Planning Department, OCHCA will establish and maintain a timeline of Santa Ana General Plan element updates.
• In collaboration with Santa Ana Planning Department, identify and characterize parcels available for physical activity and/or healthy eating promotion.
• Partner with faith-based organizations through Anti-Gang Violence collaborative to develop prevention and intervention strategies for youth crime.
• Develop and implement action plan for a Healthy and Safe Youth Zone to prioritize allocation of city and neighborhood resources to youth-frequented locations (schools, after-school programs, faith-based organizations).
• Educate and advocate to community-based organizations with after school programs for the adoption of SAUSD wellness policy-based practices.
• Update and disseminate diabetes and obesity prevention resource guides to the community
• Mobilize, train, and monitor youth group to assess compliance of contracted vendors with City of Santa Ana Healthy Vending policy.
• Neighborhood based youth group "Youth in Action" will receive leadership, civic engagement and public speaking trainings.
• Design and populate a database characterizing joint use agreements in Santa Ana; map joint use agreements and their characteristics relative to school catchment-level childhood weight and/or physical fitness indicators and park space; disseminate to key community and school partners.
• OCHCA will regularly convene an "Obesity Leadership Team" (OLT), consisting of representatives throughout the Health Care Agency to assure OCHCA programs are aware of each other's activities, particularly environmental approaches.

To learn More, Contact:

Latino Health Access
Sandra Viera - HEAC Santa Ana Site Coordinator
714-542-7792

Orange County Health Care Agency
Amy Buch, MA
714-834-5728

Elena Quintanar
714-834-8092

Santa Ana Unified School District
Frances C. Byfield
714-558-5528

Accomplishments

• Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) is transferring all vending contracts to the District's Business Office, as they expire, to ensure better quality control of foods and beverages sold in vending machines.
• Wellness Policy passed by SAUSD in Fall 2006 that strengthens the food and physical activity environment of children.
• Three youth councils created in different neighborhoods within 92701.
• Had input into the Santa Ana Renaissance Plan meetings hosted by the city, voicing the need for open space.
• Met with elected and appointed officials in support of the LHA Park at 4th Street and Minter Street. LHA has been negotiating with the city since 2003 to obtain this ½ acre of park space for the community. The plans were incorporated into the city's Renaissance Plan and brought as a complete project to the city council in Spring 2007 for formal approval.
• Received supplemental funding to work closely with Trust for Public Land to pursue joint-use funding in the city of Santa Ana.
• Santa Ana City Council passed a 50% healthy foods in vending machine ordinance in August 2006.
• Extensive communication with city elected officials and staff about the need for incentives for local vendor trucks to sell healthier foods. Once the federal and state lawsuits waged by the truck owners against the city are settled, further negotiations can begin.
• Conducted Healthy Weight, Healthy Teeth training for Child Health & Disability Prevention (CHDP) providers.
• Changed Orange County Health Care Agency (OCHCA) guidelines for bike-helmet mini-grants to mandate that any organization receiving the money focuses on promoting biking and skateboarding as forms of exercise.
• OCHCA developing a Health Impact Assessment of the Santa Ana River.
• Assessment of county vending machines conducted. OCHCA is going to propose a change in regulations that would change vending machine food and beverages sold to include 50% healthy options.
• Walk to School Day Collaboration: SAUSD, OCHCA, and LHA worked together to plan a comprehensive Walk to School Day on October 8th, 2008. Students assessed the "walkability" of the areas around their school prior to the event, using HCA's audit tool. The findings were presented by the students to the Police Department and School Board (copies also given to the City Councilwoman and City Manager's office). In early 2009, the findings and policy recommendations will be presented to various agencies within the City of Santa Ana.
• SAUSD has restarted PE training for K-5 teachers, training 110 more teachers. School Sector lead (Frances Byfield) met with Director of Food Services to talk about options to possibly pilot a high school or intermediate school lunch room, picking up on the idea of presentation from the last HEAC meeting in Los Angeles.
• Public Health lead (Amy Buch) and staff convened school facilities directors across Orange County to collect information on joint use agreements across the county. This will help inform the discussion on the various types of joint use activities taking place as well as what is required to keep them in effect.
• Latino Health Access has met with SAUSD Superintendent and District Wellness Administrator to discuss collaboration for grants in order to find funding for a pilot community access/joint use agreement for Summer/Fall of 2009. LHA will proceed to create a template community access agreement.
• A proposed funding mechanism to support joint use between SAUSD facilities and city and community use was presented to key decision-makers: SAUSD School Board, City Council, Police Officer's Union, etc to gauge feasibility. The project received positive feedback and initial political commitment but with the economic recession, it was postponed until 2010.
• OCHCA Completed StairWELL project in two county facilities to make physical improvements to stairwells.