Community pilot projects help make the healthy choice, the easy choice

Community pilot projects are helping people around the state discover the benefits—and fun!—of growing their own vegetables in community gardens, walking, jogging and biking on designated park trails, and finding healthier food choices in park cafes and local bodegas.

These opportunities arose through the initiative of ShapingNJ, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services’ public/private partnership for nutrition, physical activity and obesity prevention, with support from the New Jersey Association of County and City Health Officers. Their purpose was to test, in community settings, ShapingNJ’s ideas for promoting healthy eating and active living.

Grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids, the Partners for Health Foundation, and Walgreens funded 10 community pilot projects, many of which are now ongoing.  If you’re interested in helping members of your community discover how healthier choices can prevent obesity and improve health, these successful projects offer ideas and inspiration:

• Atlantic County’s Growing Healthy Project
• Action for Fitness in Monmouth County
• Healthy Choices on the Go in Cape May County
• Montclair Community Farm at Miller Street
• Nutley: Community in Motion
• Shaping Paterson One Step, One Bite at a Time
• Shaping Red Bank
• Shaping Warren Community Gardens

This website is sponsored by the New Jersey Association of County and City Health Officials (NJACCHO) and these ShapingNJ project funding partners:

• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids
• Partners for Health Foundation
• Walgreens