Under a new five-year grant awarded to the Illinois Public Health Institute (IPHI), Active Trans will help communities in Cook County, the Peoria region and southern Illinois improve biking and walking.
The grant, which comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and supports the Illinois State Physical Activity and Nutrition Program (ISPAN), allows IPHI to collaborate with the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), local health departments and not-for-profit organizations like Active Trans in promoting healthy nutrition and physical activity in early childhood care and education, making the the built environment better for walking and biking and improving food policy and food systems and nutrition for mothers and infants. The initiative will focus on three regions in the state: Chicago and suburban Cook County, Peoria/Tazewell/Woodford Tri-County Region and Jackson County.
ISPAN will implement four strategies to create systems and resources that help people eat healthier and stay active, including initiatives on food service guideline implementation, breastfeeding support and early childhood health standards improvements.
Active Trans’ work will focus on providing technical assistance in moving pedestrian and bicycling plan recommendations from the printed page into action. Strategies such as grant writing, intergovernmental collaboration, best practices training and community accountability are planned.
ISPAN will engage a unified coalition of partners from multiple sectors, including the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, the Illinois Committee of Blind Vendors, the Chicago Food Policy Action Council, the Illinois Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics and the University of Illinois at Chicago, among others.