-
Webinar | Food Access Planning Guide 101 | June 20
Time:
Noon
Date:
June 20
A webinar on
the soon-to-be released Minnesota Food Charter Food
Access Planning Guide is scheduled. The guide, provides tools, resources,
proven policy strategies, and recommended planning and zoning language for
comprehensive plans so planners and community food advocates can work together
to design communities that promote access to healthy, safe and affordable food.
On this webinar, you'll:
- Learn how and why the Guide was created.
- Find out ways to use the Guide in your
planning efforts.
- Listen to case studies and take away specific
examples from planners in St. Cloud and Fargo-Moorhead on how food access
improvement strategies can be incorporated into the comprehensive planning
process.
Register
here.
Faribault,
Martin, Watonwan SHIP | Smoke and Tobacco Free County Grounds
Faribault County’s tobacco-free policy is being
implemented. The Board passed a motion to enact the ordinance on June 7.
The draft policy advocates a tobacco- and smoke-free environment on specified
county properties, includes e-cigarettes. The ordinance, which cites
principles from the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act, designates the County
Courthouse complex, Law Enforcement Center, Public Works and all other
county-owned vehicles, offices and shelter sites within park/campground systems
as tobacco free. That means that “smoking of any kind and the use of chewing
tobacco" is prohibited in those areas. The Faribault, Martin,
and Watonwan Counties SHIP grant assisted Faribault County in the policy
process.
Do you have a resource or success story (“gem”) to share for a future issue? Submissions for each week’s Thursday publication are due by noon every Tuesday to Health.MakingitBetter@state.mn.us or community specialists for:
|
Minnesota Compass is a social
indicators project that measures progress in Minnesota, its seven
regions, 87 counties and larger
cities. Compass tracks trends in topic areas such as education, economy and
workforce, health, housing, public safety and a host of others.
Compass gives everyone in the
state – policymakers, business and community leaders, and concerned individuals
who live and work here – a common foundation to identify, understand and act on
issues that affect our communities.
It does this by:
- Providing
unbiased, credible information.
- Tracking
trends and measuring progress on issues that impact our quality of life.
- Identifying
disparities by including trend data by race, age, gender and income whenever
possible.
- Providing
additional resources for addressing issues.
Check out
Minnesota trends.
|
The Farmers Market Coalition’s free SNAP
EBT Equipment Program Announces New
Rules for 2016
The United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) continues to partner with
the Farmers Market Coalition (FMC) to provide eligible farmers markets and
direct marketing farmers with the free Electronic Benefit
Transfer (EBT) equipment necessary to process Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP) benefits in 2016.
Who’s Eligible?
SNAP-authorized
farmers markets and
direct marketing farmers (who sell at one or more farmers markets) are eligible
for funding if they:
-
Do not currently possess functioning SNAP EBT equipment; OR
-
Currently possess functioning SNAP EBT equipment, but received that equipment before May 2, 2012.
*Note that the date of SNAP
authorization is no longer included in eligibility requirements. FMC needs to
know that your SNAP permit is active and in good standing, but doesn’t need to
know when you obtained it.
What’s Covered?
FMC will cover the cost of purchasing
or renting SNAP EBT equipment and services (set-up costs, monthly service fees)
for up to three years. Approved applicants choose their own SNAP EBT service
provider from a list of participating companies: MarketLink, MerchantSource,
and TSYS. Transaction fees (for SNAP, credit and debit payments) will not be covered.
Where Do I Apply?
Visit FMCtoolbox.org to
fill out the online application. An email address, FNS number (also known as SNAP permit number), a
signed W9 form, contact
information and some general information about your farm or farmers market will
be required.
Learn more at farmersmarketcoalition.org or by
calling (877) FMC-0553; email: ebt@farmersmarketcoalition.org.
Bike MN is creating a bicycle-friendly booklet that will cover what
it means to be bicycle friendly and provides people with a workbook to get them
started thinking about bike friendliness in their town. Bike MN is looking
for local photos! The photos used will be credited in the workbook to you, and
Bike MN will send a Saint Paul Classic discount code to those whose photos are
selected!
Bike MN is looking to collect pictures of:
- Bike facilities in your town (with people on/with bikes in
them)
- Photos from programming or events (such as a mayor's ride, education
course, etc.)
- People of all ages on all types of bikes
Please email them to jo@bikemn.org along
with a brief description.
|
|
ClearWay Minnesota has developed a new
provider factsheet specific to the Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare
population and the changes that occurred as of Jan. 1 that expanded benefits to
include free coverage for individual and group cessation counseling and smoking
cessation medications with a prescription. As you are working with providers,
please share the document. In addition, please feel free to forward to other
professionals/partners that are working with provider networks.
The provider factsheet document resides on
the ClearWay MN cessation policy page (http://clearwaymn.org/policy/cessation-policy/);
please direct providers to this website where they can download the document as
a PDF.
If you have any questions, please contact
Brianna Longeway (Brianna.Longeway@state.mn.us).
Tobacco Control Legal Consortium
has a new resource on the FDA’s Deeming Rule. It includes:
Lawsuits
Challenging the FDA’s Deeming Rule (2016); and a brief overview of recent
lawsuits filed that challenge the FDA’s deeming rule, as of this month.
To mark the anniversary of the 2006 Surgeon General’s
report, the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium has updated a few popular
tobacco-free policy guides:
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Date: June 30
This
Consortium webinar will discuss the public health rationale for reducing
tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure in assisted living and long-term care
settings, where many vulnerable and tobacco-addicted people live. Presenters
will describe the current tobacco control landscape in these environments and
several regulatory options to address tobacco use in this population.
Presenters: Pat McKone, American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest;
Jessica Kulak, College of Brockport (SUNY); and Jenn Beideman, Finger Lakes
Health Systems Agency.
Moderator/Presenter: Kerry Cork, Tobacco Control Legal Consortium at the
Public Health Law Center.
Register
here.
Archived Recordings & Slides of Recent Webinars
The
Deeming Rule Explained: What the Public Health Community Needs to Know (May 19, 2016)
You’ll
Have to Wait a Little Bit Longer: Practical Support and Policy Considerations
for Tobacco 21 Laws (May 31, 2016)
Do you have
a photo of tobacco industry tactics at the point of sale? Or are you planning
to take photos while conducting audits this summer? Please send in the photos
you capture of the retail environment!
What kind of photos? Send
us photos showcasing tobacco industry marketing tactics and promotional
strategies at the point of sale.
Who do I send them to? Jennifer@countertools.org
What is the deadline? Please
send by September 30 to
be considered for the 1st and 2nd place prizes.
We are pleased to share our report “Community
Voices: Reducing Tobacco-related Health Inequities.” In 2015, we initiated the
Community Voices input process to address the disproportionately higher rates
of commercial tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure among many of our
communities.
This report includes input from community
stakeholders on the harms of commercial tobacco, approaches to decrease
commercial tobacco use and exposure, and strategies to address tobacco-related
health inequities. It also includes findings and opportunities for action based
on the input gathered.
We hope these findings and actions provide
insight that you can use to improve your
community’s health. Please share this report with community members and
partners as you see fit. We hope it serves as a resource and blueprint for
action to reduce tobacco-related disparities in Minnesota.
Read the report at http://www.health.mn.gov/communityvoices.
Thanks
to all those who participated!
|
|
Inter-connecting
Children’s Oral Health and Learning
Date: August 4
Venue: Normandale Community College, 9700 France
Ave. S, Bloomington 55431
At this all-day conference you will meet and learn from local and national
experts about:
- Supporting
children’s oral health and relating oral health to overall health and
academic success
- Policies
and practices for incorporating or expanding oral health and dental
sealant programs
This Summit is designed
for people who are committed to children’s health from schools, government,
health clinics, dental clinics, sealant programs, public health, health plans,
community organizations and all other interested stakeholders.
For details and registration information go to: Smiles@School
Oral Health Summit
Partners:
Minnesota Department of Health; Delta Dental of Minnesota Foundation;
Normandale Community College; Minnesota Oral Health Coalition
|
|
|
OSHII staff have been busy
preparing for the SHIP Statewide Meeting July 26-27, which will be held at
Eagan Community Center, 1501 Central Parkway, Eagan.
Registration is expected to
open on Monday, June 20.
Here are some highlights from
the schedule:
- Thirty-six sessions and two mobile sessions are
planned. They will cover a wide range of topics related to SHIP strategies,
health equity and foundational skills.
- The meeting kicks
off with a keynote by Monte Roulier,
co-founder and President of Community Initiatives
- Lunch speaker on the first day will be Benjamin Winchester, who is senior
research fellow with the University of Minnesota Extension. Winchester will discuss “Rewriting the Rural
Narrative.”
- Day two starts with a breakfast that’s geared to
encourage networking.
-
Lunch speakers on the second day will be Chris Tholkes
of OSHII and Amanda Shongo of Leech Lake. Tholkes will speak about the stakeholder
process for Tribal SHIP and Shongo about healthy eating strategies.
More information will be posted
on the MDH website.
|
|
Reminder that new intake is due June 17.
The reach database will be locked until June 27
for data cleaning and updating, so you will not be able to make any edits to
the data.
|
|
 No announcements this week.
|
 No announcements this week.
|
|
