Below you will find the initiatives and strategies for Creating Healthy Places in Suffolk County. We are working in a select group of communities in the Towns of Riverhead , Southampton and Babylon to make the environments where residents live, work and play healthier by increasing opportunities to make areas safer and more inviting for physical activity and at the same time increase opportunities for access to healthier food choices.
1. Establish or improve and promote use of neighborhood or community trails.
2. Improve street design for small geographic areas of the selected communities through improved street lighting, traffic signage and enhanced landscaping, and promote these areas for walking and biking.
3. Implement the Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (NAP SACC) in childcare and daycare settings to reduce television viewing/screen-time and increase physical activity and play.
4. In after-school care programs, implement the Healthy Kids, Healthy New York After-School Model Guidelines for Screen time and Physical Activity.
5. Create community gardens by working with community planning boards, neighborhood associations, persons with disabilities, and senior and low-income housing developments.
We have five Creating Healthy Places gardens that have been established since 2011.
Other gardens receiving assistance from CHPSC in 2011
6. Establish and promote use of farmers markets and implement innovative strategies to increase access to healthy foods in high need communities.
7. Reduce point of sale marketing of energy dense, nutrient poor foods and beverages in grocery stores, convenience stores, bodegas, small stores and restaurants.
8. Work with local restaurants to add healthier menu items including healthier "side" items provided with a meal (carrot sticks rather than potato chips with a sandwich), reformulate existing items, offer affordable and appropriately sized portions, provide healthier combinations for meals, make healthier items the standard for children's meals, and publicize the calorie, fat and sodium content of menu items.
Last updated April 15, 2015