On Sunday August 9, Mary Schmich of the Chicago Tribune wrote a column featuring a number of healthy eating and active living initiatives that typify the types of place-based efforts that help people in communities be healthier. Schmich, Illinois Public Health Institute (IPHI) CEO, Elissa Bassler, Active Transportation Alliance, and Slow Roll Chicago toured Englewood, West Englewood and Chicago Lawn on bicycles to demonstrate how health goes beyond the doctor’s office. Growing Home’s Wood Street urban farm, Grow Greater Englewood, a community activity event called Play Streets hosted by Southwest Organizing Project, a cooking course run by EverThrive Illinois, and a healthy corner store supported by the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) were the initiatives featured in the story. Bassler drove home the point that health starts in communities, stating “We need to move away from the idea that if we just had more doctors and gave people insurance cards, that’s going to improve health.” The column closed by highlighting the Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Act, IPHI and the Illinois Alliance to Prevent Obesity (IAPO). The HEAL Act uses a tax on sugary beverages to pay for the kinds of programs featured in the article; IPHI and IAPO are advocating that legislators include the HEAL Act in the final state budget agreement.
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