Communities in Action

Members of Oscoda County’s CHOICES partnership were well aware of the challenges facing their rural Northern Michigan community. What they needed to understand was what resources they already had. “We needed to focus on what we have and not on what we don’t have,” said Jan Schleicher, certified health coach and co-chair for...

To increase physical activity in a rural region with high rates of unemployment and poverty, and lots of snow, Michigan’s Western Upper Peninsula Health Department created the Copper County Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities partnership. This partnership increased opportunities for active transportation through a Complete Streets policy, Safe Routes to School, and improved bicycle and walking...

A plan for action is a roadmap for achieving your goals. It comes to life when it includes clear, measurable goals, timelines, and accountabilities for accomplishing the work. With many multi-sector workgroups and successful programs and policy wins across several health focus areas, the Greater Flint Health Coalition (GFHC) had a proven track record for developing strategic action plans that...

A presentation at the April 2013 Together We Can summit created the spark for a garden at Larson Elementary School in Harrison, Michigan. The principal, Julie Rosencrantz, knew that many kids in the school didn’t have access to the fresh fruits and vegetables they need to be healthy and saw a garden as an opportunity to change that. By June, kids were eating the fruits and vegetables they had...