CHF Healthy Places Grants Available

The Colorado Health Foundation has launched "Healthy Places: Designing an Active Colorado," a five-year, $4.5 million initiative to promote communities where it is easier to engage in daily physical activities that encourage movement and connection. During the first phase of Healthy Places, the Foundation will select as many as three communities to participate in an advisory panel process with the Urban Land Institute and receive follow-up technical assistance.

Panelists from ULI will spend a week in the selected communities, helping to assess their needs, interviewing stakeholders and making recommendations on building healthy places that promote active living. Communities that complete the panel process will have the opportunity to apply for funding to implement their plans. 

One strategy to reduce and prevent obesity is to address the role of "place" in contributing to this epidemic. An analysis of data from the National Survey of Children's Health found that the odds of a child being obese or overweight are 20 to 60 percent higher in neighborhoods with no access to sidewalks, parks and recreation centers. 

The Foundation invites responses from Colorado communities that want to improve their built environments to encourage active lifestyles. Entities applying for the RFP must be Colorado organizations classified as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) or as Colorado public agencies. The Foundation will offer an informational webinar about the Healthy Places initiative on Tuesday, Nov. 6 from noon to 1 p.m. 

For questions regarding Healthy Places, please contact Hillary Fulton, senior program officer for Healthy Living, at 303.953.3626.