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Grantee Profiles
South Shasta County
South Shasta Healthy Eating Active Communities Collaborative
Collaborating grantees:
Shasta County Public Health; the South County Consortium (the Anderson Union High School District and its four K-8 feeder districts); and the Anderson Partnership for Healthy Children, (a program of Shasta County Child Abuse Prevention Council, an alliance of community partners that has been successfully conducting community health improvement projects in the Anderson area for 12 years). In addition to the grantees, the HEAC collaborative is working with: the City of Anderson's Parks and Recreation Department and City Manager's Office; Shasta Community Health Center; Happy Valley Park Committee, and Cottonwood Park Board.
The City of Anderson is a major supporter of the collaborative's youth development and physical activity efforts. The Anderson Partnership operates a Teen Center, which moved into a newly constructed building in March 2007. The new building is co-owned by the City of Anderson and the County to jointly house the Teen Center and a Public Health regional office.
Community Description
Shasta County is nestled at the far northern end of California's Great Central Valley. Although it is the last major population center in the Sacramento River Valley, it is primarily rural. Only 3 percent of land use is urban/suburban and half of the County's population resides in the City of Redding (80,865). The HEAC effort is focused in South Shasta County, which includes the City of Anderson and the unincorporated communities of Cottonwood and Happy Valley. South Shasta County has a population of 43,224 predominately white residents; however there are also sizable Hispanic (13 % of the K-12 students) and Native American (11% of the K-12 students) populations living in the area. The five school districts that comprise the South County Consortium have a ten-year history of successful collaboration.
For more on information on community efforts and accomplishments please click here.
News Coverage/Awards/Campaigns
Key Policy Goals and Strategies
HEAC Phase I (2005-2009)
School Sector
- Develop and implement school district Wellness Policies that comply with SB12 and SB965 standards.
- Implement current California Department of Education physical education standards for grades K - 12.
After School Sector
- Assist after school providers to create, adopt and implement policies to improve nutrition and physical activity practices in after school programs.
- Work with consortium schools and after school providers to maximize Prop 49 potential.
Neighborhood Sector
- Identify and advocate for policies to be included in the general plan that support community livability and walkability.
- Promote development of community parks.
- Explore potential policies to provide locally grown farm produce to school food programs, limit building housing developments over farm land with, provide tax relief for farmers who do not sell to developers, promote smart growth, and expand access to trails and bike-paths.
Health Care Sector
- Improve office clinical practice of health care providers by providing healthy eating and active living guidance for children and families.
- With targeted providers, increase the quantity and quality of assessment of children and families for the prevention and management of childhood obesity.
- Maximize appropriate billing for services related to obesity and diabetes prevention with targeted providers.
HEAC Phase II (2005-2009)
School and After School Sector
- Convene a policy committee, including representatives from food service, Public Health, APHC.
- Convene HEAC PE work group to develop or adopt PE monitoring tool.
- Convene PE policy workgroup, including representatives from Physical Ed Depts, Public Health, APHC.
- Convene health councils/school administation/ district leads to establish School Wellness policies monitoring guidelines, activities and timeline.
- Strengthen & empower the school wellness committee/coordinated school health council's ability to implement, monitor and revise the wellness policy . Earmark and/or leverage HEAC, district, or partner resources for the wellness committee/coordinated school health council.
- Review district policies to assure application of policies to after-school programs.
- Develop a branded health award to bring attention to schools with best practices. Identify school sector representative to participate in workgroup to develop branded health award for school sector.
- Advocate for more districts to fund or otherwise support wellness councils & health/policy leadership activities (e.g. via MAA funding).
Neighborhood and After School Sector
- Change product placement in supermarkets and corner stores to make healthy products more visible and unhealthy options less visible.
- Advocate, promote and provide TA and other support for community/school gardens and local food banks.
- Advocate for healthy options vending machine &/or snack bars policy in City of Anderson.
- Engage in land/use and transportation planning, including advocating for health language and complete streets principles in general plans.
- Continue/expand work with parents and youth to identify issues of concern and provide input related to County General Plan Update and Parks, Trails and Open Spaces.
- Continue/expand work with parents and youth to identify and address barriers to physical. activity - including walking/biking to school and park utilization and the impact of crime and traffic safety on access to physical activity.
- Develop a branded health award to bring attention to after school programs with best practices.
- Create & market junk food-free zones in summer programs.
- Strengthen community capacity and involvement in obesity prevention and community health building activities.
- Develop a branded health award to bring attention to providers with best practices in obesity prevention.
- Develop a branded health award to bring attention to neighborhood & other organizations with exemplary practices or achievements.
- Engage parents, youth, local elected officials and other community members and leaders in advocating for health language and Smart Growth elements in upcoming General Plan Update and Parks Trails and Open Space Master Plan.
To learn More, Contact:
Shasta County Public Health
Sheryl Vietti
530-225-3745
Anderson Partnership for Healthy Children
Michele Erickson
530-378-6060
Anderson Union High School District
Charlie Kennedy
530-378-0568
Accomplishments
- Early and enthusiastic implementation by Anderson Union High School District of SB12 and SB965 standards: eliminating sodas, candy and fries from campus, installing restaurant grade water stations and allocating MediCal Administrative Activities (MAA) funding to cover projected revenue shortfall during transition.
- Development by Happy Valley Elementary School District's newly established health council of exemplary wellness policies, going beyond SB12 and SB965 standards to eliminate candy-sale fundraisers, limit unhealthy foods at classroom parties and add fruit and vegetable choices to the annual Spaghetti Dinner.
- Adoption by schools of an activity-oriented curriculum, SPARK (Sports, Play & Active Recreation for Kids), with funding provided by Shasta County Public Health Department (SCPH), that provides training and equipment for classroom teachers on fun ways for students to be physically active. West Valley High School implemented a new weight training option in its PE program in which all participating students showed improvement in fitness tests.
- Established or expanded school gardens at four elementary and one middle school. Gardens have augmented school menus as well as being used in science, math and language arts activities.
- GIS-based assessment of routes and trails by 60 high school students and ten other community members, funded by SCPH. The maps will be included in the City's general plan as well as an "Anderson Walks" trail guide.
- After receiving KaBoom training, helped establish the Happy Valley Park Committee and engaged the community in designing and advocating for a local park. The committee has received a commitment for donation of more than 20 acres from a local developer.
- Through outreach and organizational efforts with local farmers in the Happy Valley community, assisted in upgrading, printing and distributing more than 5,000 Happy Valley Farm Trail maps as part of a developing "Buy Local, Buy Fresh" campaign. As a result of HEAC organizing efforts, area farmers now meet monthly to network and are working to establish a farmers' market in nearby Anderson.
- The City of Anderson's Parks and Recreation Department expanded its thrice-annual Activity guide to promote physical activity and nutrition opportunities anywhere in South Shasta County. The guides are now distributed to area medical offices along with "prescription" pads designed for provider use in encouraging patients to get active.
- Incorporated healthy snacks, daily physical activity, and a nutritious lunch program (provided by Cascade Unified School District) into the Parks and Recreation Department free "Summer Fun" program for children at three South Shasta County sites.
- More than two dozen youth participated in PhotoVoice, Project LEAN and other projects to assess school and community environments. Youth made presentations to a school board, the Parks and Recreation director, and traffic commission, successfully advocating practical changes to expand and improve nutrition and physical activity opportunities.
- Helped change clinical practice and policy at local provider offices, including: incorporation of Body Mass Index measurement and documentation in charting procedures and prohibiting candy and other unhealthy food gifts from drug company representatives.
- Shasta County Public Health has supported HEAC objectives with additional staff and funding, including nearly $100,000 in mini-grants for related equipment and improvements, staff training and other technical support.
- Shasta Health Campaign Approved
- In 2006, Shasta County approved $600,000 over three years for an advertising and public relations campaign to promote nutrition and physical activity. The Board of Supervisors voted to grant a contract to Sacramento-based Runyon Saltzman & Einhorn Inc. to run the campaign, which would include radio, newspaper and billboard ads.
- PH and APHC participated in and assisted with presentations and facilitation at the organizing meeting of the Shasta Healthy Eating Active Living Summit in November, kicking off a local convergence effort.
- PH and APHC hosted two sessions of advocacy trainings, by Mary Lee of Policy Link, for local agencies: one for non-profits was attended by 20 people; a second for government agencies was attended by about a dozen people.
Neighborhood/After School
- South Shasta Visioning Project: final workshop of "How Shall We Grow" series conducted. Local Government Commission presented draft community visioning reports to residents from Happy Valley and Cottonwood. Final report to be ready for presentation to Board of Supervisors in February or March. 83 people attended the first meeting last January. Since that time 140 community members and 180 high school students have taken part in the visioning process being conducted by South Shasta HEAC with the Local Government Commission. The How Shall We Grow effort was cited in the local paper as one of the top 10 stories of 2008. As a result of our Visioning Project, Shasta County Planning Dept. asked the developer of a proposed Walgreens in Cottonwood to speak to the Cottonwood visioning group about their plans before submitting plans to the County. The developer spoke to Cottonwood residents and after the plans were submitted the County sent a copy to the Cottonwood group for additional input and comments. This is a huge step for Shasta County.
- APHC/Anderson Teen Center received $5000 grant for food, supplies and equipment to conduct healthy cooking workshops for Anderson Teen Center participants. Between October and December, 37 different youth participated in cooking activities, with an average of 6 youth participating in each session. Each session has the same structure: meal planning, meal preparation, cleanup and consumption. This program allows teens the opportunity to have a healthier meal during the day and teaches youth how to eat healthier more easily. With new funding from the Redding Rancheria, the cooking workshops will continue at least until next fall with healthier and fresher ingredients to work with. Cottonwood Community Center has also been conducting youth cooking classes.
- APHC/Teen Center received donation of WiiFit and Wii Sport from local Exchange Club to expand offerings of physical fitness activities.
- City of Anderson Parks and Recreation began designating locations where it conducts youth sports as "Healthy Snack Zones." Parks & Rec also produced a local map highlighting restaurants where healthy choices available for visiting teams.
- Public Health Nutritionist continues to conduct monthly food demonstrations at local food bank to teach how to create healthful meals from the available ingredients.
- Latinos in Action (which arose from a HEAC PhotoVoice project) has been conducting fundraisers for its planned Cottonwood park improvement projects. They have raised over $1,000 to date. More importantly, the group is creating a new working relationship with the Cottonwood Community Center and Park Board.
- Cottonwood Community Center and PH are working on a Cottonwood walking guide similar to the one previously produced for Anderson.
Schools/After School
- Public Health Nutritionist is working with Anderson Middle School Project Share Program to provide nutrition education and PA.
- Public Health Nutritionist is working with Healthy Start Program at Verde Vale to offer healthy snacks, nutrition education and PA resources at Open House in January.
- Anderson High School food service purchased and is implementing NutriKids program.
- Cascade and Happy Valley School Districts passed school bond measures for facility improvements. The majority of the Happy Valley bond will go towards building a gym that will be open to the community.
- Barbara Jackson and Rhonda Breshears have been trained for SOFIT PE Observations.
- Lean N Green Day, which started at the beginning of HEAC and was hosted primarily by Public Health and the Nutrition Network, has been institutionalized by Anderson Parks and Recreation. When SCPHD decided to move their event to Redding three years ago, the City Parks and Recreation Department (an unfunded HEAC Collaborative partner) decided it was too great an event to lose and have been running it on their own. This will be the 5th year. http://www.andersonvalleypost.com/news/2009/mar/16/anderson-hosts-5th-annual-lean-and-green-day/
- Anderson Union High School District's new food service director has eliminated most competitive foods, reworked the school menus to increase whole grains, hired an aide to call every family about applying for free or reduced lunch and provided a meal to every parent who attended Open House this month to highlight the new offerings. School meal sales have doubled since she took over from the retiring former director (who had also made many positive changes. Actively participated in national nutrition month (this month) and are doing meatless Mondays.
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