Making it Better: Minnesota's Health Improvement Log

Minnesota Department of Health sent this bulletin at 03/08/2018 11:00 AM CST

Making it Better: Minnesota's Health Improvement Log

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March 8, 2018

Good Food Acess Grants

Improve access to healthy food

Applications are now accepted for funds to assist grocery stores and small food retailers to purchase equipment or make physical improvements that will increase availability of and access to affordable, nutritious and culturally appropriate foods. Applications are due April 19.

For more information, please visit the Good Food Access Program Equipment Grant website.

BikeMN Survey

Webinar scheduled March 21

The featured speakers for the March webinar are Jeff Miller, CycleLifeHQ, and Virginia Sullivan, Adventure Cycling Association. A pre-webinar survey is now available, to help the featured guests understand Minnesota-related issues and concerns

Here's a link to the pre-webinar survey. Please complete this pre-webinar survey by Friday, March 9. Webinar information will be in next week's MiB log.

Minnesota Prevention Resource Center

Survey participation requested

The Minnesota Prevention Resource Center (MPRC) is conducting a survey to learn about your familiarity, preferences and experiences with their services.

It take 10-15 minutes to complete, and is found at www.mnprc.org. Just click the banner to complete the survey.

2018 SHIP Statewide Meeting

New meeting design needs your input

The dates and location are set - July 25-26, 2018 at the Eagan Community Center. But the structure and content are waiting for your guidance.

If you are interested in helping plan the new design and content, please contact Linda.Feltes@state.mn.us.

If you will help in areas such as set-up or welcome crew, please contact Kim.Engwer-Moylan@state.mn.us.

Tip of the Week

Bi-monthly call helpful hints

We continue our helpful tips, assisting SHIP grantees in preparing and executing successful bi-monthly calls.

Week 5:

- Describe any collaborative work with other SHIP coordinators including any regional work. Please be specific when naming partners and contact information.

Let’s Go for a Walk Guides

Are now available

Spring is almost here, time to order your supply of Let’s Go for a Walk guides. These are a great way to engage local partners to organize a walk audit, and it provides prompting questions to help examine the built environment and consider the opportunities to make walking easier, safer and more desirable.

Contact Rhonda Bauer to request a supply be mailed to you.

Calendar of Events

Healthy Retail Webinar

Date: Tuesday, March 20
Time: 12:30 - 1:30 p.m.

Webinar participants will discuss the intersecting of city planning, public health, policy approaches and healthy retail, as well as a review of basic planning concepts, some community case studies and lessons from tobacco control. The webinar concludes with some lessons learned and next steps.

For more information and to register, go to the Counter Tools link.

Minnesota Food Charter Network Webinar

Date: Wednesday, March 21
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Participants will learn about tools and resources including: the New Minnesota Food Charter Champion map, the Mix, a new shared communications platform for Minnesota Food Charter Champions, new tools for assessing and improving the health of food networks and more.

Please register for the webinar on this U of M link.

This Week's Gem

The year 2017 came to an end with the Dakota County Community Development Agency (CDA) announcing plans to universally adopt a comprehensive smoke-free policy effective June 1, 2018.

This initiative will create 2,295 newly smoke-free affordable housing units, county wide. The decision comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) rule to prohibit smoking in all public housing nationwide. The HUD rule applies to 323 of the CDA’s units, however, the agency decided to extend smoke-free protections to its remaining residents in units that are not already smoke free.

The CDA is now in the process of engaging residents - (pictured) and promoting cessation. Partners have held multiple meetings, including 20 senior housing sites in February alone. Residents had the opportunity to share personal stories and ask questions about the policy rationale, enforcement and timeline. Reaction has been predominantly positive and encouraging.

The PSE change sparked interest in some residents to quit smoking altogether. Dakota County Public Health and SHIP have been instrumental in providing education tools and cessation resources, and are exploring ways to expand this partnership to offer continued cessation support for CDA residents.

Next up - a kickoff celebration planned for this summer. Congratulations on this ever growing movement to support tobacco-free living.