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King County FOOD and FITNESS Initiative
(KCFFI) |
The overarching aim of the King County Food and Fitness Initiative (KCFFI) is to support healthy eating and active living among vulnerable children and their families by promoting environments that support healthy behaviors.
OUR STORY:
- Formed in 2006, the King County Food & Fitness Initiative (KCFFI) is a community coalition supported W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
- In 2006, King County, Wash. along with 8 other communities were chosen to be part of a national Kellogg Foundation initiative called Food & Fitness.
- From April 2006-October 2008, our collaborative has grown strong with more than 50 organizational partners. During this planning period, we succeeded in building a Community Action Plan in collaboration with community, youth, and cross-sector partners in the Delridge and White Center neighborhoods in Seattle and unincorporated King County.
- Building on the momentum and successes of the planning phase, along with a number of successful events and partnerships, we will continue to authentically engage community members and collaborative partners in this vital work.
NEW WORK:
- The KCFFI is proud to announce that it has been awarded a grant from the new W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food & Community Program to implement our Food & Fitness Community Action Plan.
- Through Food & Community, the Kellogg Foundation is working to create healthy places where all children thrive.
- Our Community Action Plan focuses on improving the policies, practices and systems that determine how food arrives on our table and how our communities are built.
- We look forward to putting our plan in motion to create a healthier community for all through the work of three Action Teams:
- School Food & Fitness: Improve school food and fitness environments by linking schools with learning activities such as nutrition and garden-based education, improve physical activity through safe routes to and from school, and increase partnership between youth and families with community members, community-based organizations, community leaders and policymakers.
- Healthy Food Retail: Increase access to—and awareness of—affordable and fresh food through retail establishments; improve the systemic connections between food producers, distributors and the network of local retailers.
- Safe Spaces to Be Active: Support the work of the School Food & Fitness Action Team, improving safety and investment for walking and biking in school and community settings.
The King County Food & Fitness Initiative is honored to be part of the new W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food & Community Program: www.wkkf.org/foodandcommunity
The MISSION of the King County Food & Fitness Initiative is to foster collaborative leadership among diverse community partners to co-create long-term, innovative strategies to realize our vision of equitable access to resources and choices that promote health. To achieve our goals, we actively engage with communities and youth in planning, decision making, and fun activities.
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(Above: Proposed KCFFI Action Phase Structure)
Fall 2009 - Putting Strategy Teams into Action
KCFFI is in the process of transitioning from planning to action and from Strategy Design Teams to Strategy ACTION Teams. We will be holding transition / brainstorming meetings throughout the month of October. Please contact Maggie for details.
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Systems Change :
Advancing Sustainable Solutions |
Food & Fitness is about transforming systems that shape our food and fitness environments.
- Key systems include transportation, farming, education, food purchasing, community design, parks, and land use
Environmental and policy change are essential levers in advancing systems change.
- Other levers include relationships; realigning resources; improving infrastructure; shifting customs, practices and norms; and changing systemic and cultural barriers
Systems change is usually the product of a series of small steps.
- Through hard work, the result can be sustainable change that improves our health and quality of life
- Policy and systems change can lead to sustainable funding for community supports such as programs and services
- by aligning our efforts, we have the power and capacity to create systems change:
Advancing Sustainable Solutions
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Join our Food & Fitness Listserv! |
Funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 “to help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations." To achieve the greatest impact, the Foundation targets its grants toward specific areas. These include: health; food systems and rural development; youth and education; and philanthropy and volunteerism. Within these areas, attention is given to exploring learning opportunities in leadership; information and communication technology; capitalizing on diversity; and social and economic community development.
Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the southern African countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.
For further information, please visit the Foundation's Web site at www.wkkf.org. The site offers: in-depth information about the Foundation's programming interests; information on the Foundation's grant application process; a database of current grant recipients; and access to publications which report on Foundation-funded projects.
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