Local Public Health and the Built Environment (LPHBE)

Background
In 2007, 59 percent of Californians were overweight or obese. Half of the population did not participate in moderate physical activity (for 30 minutes or more) five days a week or vigorous physical activity (for 20 minutes or more) three days a week. In the inner city neighborhoods, there are few opportunities for safe physical activity and little easy access to healthy foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables. In the suburbs, many people drive long distances to work, shop, and school, leaving little opportunity to integrate active living into busy schedules and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

Intervention
The California Department of Public Health and the California Center for Physical Activity used Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant funding to establish the Local Public Health and the Built Environment (LPHBE) Network Project in 2005. The Project uses educational trainings, teleconferences with state and national experts, local workshops, and community-wide activities to:

• Raise awareness among public health professionals on the importance of integrating public health into community design;
• Develop a cadre of local public health department staff with content expertise in land use and transportation;
• Enable public health practitioners to participate in discussions about community design;
• Encourage bicycle-friendly, walkable streets, and harness economic incentives to support accessibility to healthy foods in residential neighborhoods or by public transit.

Impact
Since its inception, the LPHBE Network Project has provided technical assistance and/or funding to 37 of 61 local public health departments and has awarded mini-grants to 21 local public health departments, totaling $167,146. Leveraging LPHBE Network Project participation has led to the following accomplishments:

• Los Angeles County launched the Policies for Livable Active Communities and Environments Program, which has a $1.5 million budget to support community grants.
• Humboldt County Department of Public Health received a grant to conduct a rural Health Impact Assessment of county growth scenarios.
• Sacramento County sought public health input to the county general plan.
• Riverside County hosted targeted workshops (e.g., Emergency Response and Street Design), convened a Designing Healthy Communities Forum, commented on new county development, and conducted numerous walk audits county-wide.
• Shasta County Public Health Department developed a Healthy Development Tool for use by local planners.

In each of these examples, community planners and public health practitioners worked together to promote communities that meet planner goals for efficient transportation and greenhouse gas reduction, while also promoting healthy lifestyles.

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