On any given day you can open your Internet browser to search for a new study ranking the fittest cities, best places to live, healthiest cities in the world, and so on. These studies demonstrate it is possible to build a healthy community despite political, environmental or economic challenges. This is consistent with the ActivEarth philosophy, which highlights the environmental benefits of human physical activity and encourages people to live their lives in more sustainable ways.

One particularly useful ranking is our American Fitness Index (AFI). The AFI provides an evidence- and science-based measurement of the state of health and fitness at the community level. Organizations, communities, and individuals throughout the country use the AFI data and analysis to assess factors that contribute to health and fitness, and measure their progress toward achieving them.

In addition to the data report, AFI now offers a Technical Assistance Program to help selected cities identify opportunities to improve the health of their residents and expand community assets to better support active, healthy lifestyles. It is a tool to help government, community leaders, health promotion groups and individuals create a healthier environment.

So what can you do to build a healthier community?

You don't have to be part of the AFI Technical Assistance Program to help nudge your town toward better health. One effective strategy - amplified when more residents participate - is to support bsuinesses that make your community healthier. For example:

• Farmers markets offer fresh produce from nearby growers. This provides you with healthy foods to eat, and economically supports local suppliers.
• Local businesses can partner with health initiatives and health/wellness retailers to encourage workers to lead healthier lifestyles.
• National companies often support community-based programs as a way of strengthening local ties. Approach them as an interested customer. Perhaps you can partner with them as a local business owner.

  

Encourage community leaders to create a built environment that's conducive to healthy lifestyles:

• Write to your mayor or city department to urge continued development of sidewalks, greenways, bike lanes and hiking trails.
• Support the development of pocket parks where they are most needed.
  
• Call for school facilities to be available after-hours for community recreation.

Singling out a notable program

One notable program, recently recognized by the Let's Move! Communities on the on the Move video challenge is "100 Citizens: Role Models for the Future." 100 Citizens is a program of the City of San Fernando Partnership for Healthy Families; its proponents believe that ending childhood obesity begins with the family. Families receive advice and guidance about beginning exercise programs. The strategy is to drive public health awareness and implementation at public parks through participation in programs delivered by students and professionals trained in kinesiology.

Whatever route you choose, good luck with your efforts to make your community a little healthier. Let us know what you're doing.

Let's Move! provides the ideal opportunity to attract grandparents and grandchildren into your health or wellness center or program by providing participants with shared experiences and multidimensional health benefits, depending on the programs offered. To embrace this opportunity, you may want to incorporate the intergenerational activities below into your programming, or use them as a springboard for other ideas.

1. Walking the World

Start this walking program by describing the reasons why walking is good for health and how to make walking workouts enjoyable. Create an adventure for grandparents and grandchildren by making the goal to circle the globe. Ask participants to count their steps with pedometers and to write down their results. Pin a map on the wall to track progress, and count each step towards mileage. Recognize efforts by enrolling grandparents and grandchildren in the President's Challenge.

2. Family Album

Invite grandparents to bring photographs from the family album. Encourage them to use these images to talk about the past, allowing grandchildren to ask questions and discover more about their grandparents. Introduce an extra level to this program by suggesting that grandparents help grandchildren begin a photo album of their own.

3. Scavenger Hunt

Create a list of small things for grandparents and grandchildren to search for on a walk. Include items appropriate to your environment, e.g. a paper clip, a leaf, a white stone. Count the number of scavenged items each pair has at the end of the walk. Let the pair with the most things choose the next adventure.

4. Book-lovers Club

Ask grandparents and grandchildren to read books together, with the goal of discussing them at monthly Book Lovers meetings. Encourage participants to discuss the books they've read with other members of the club. Prepare for an enthusiastic exchange between book lovers, young and old.

5. Group Exercise

Make group exercise opportunities for the whole family. Offer classes in tai chi, swimming, yoga or group fitness, for example. Give dance classes for families. Come up with dances and name them after families participating in the program. Consider having family nights a few times a week.

6. Life Stage

Start a theater group to offer creative fun for grandparents and grandchildren. Ask the participants to write, produce and direct a year-end play for the theater group to perform. Urge them to come up with an active, fun play. Invite family members to the performance.

7. Tennis for Two

Offer tennis classes for grandparents and grandchildren at a special intergenerational rate. At the season's end, organize a tennis tournament in which participants play other intergenerational pairs. Suggest that grandparents and grandchildren invite other family members to watch or join in the fun. Provide fun awards to program participants, and be creative when coming up with award categories. When the tournament ends, throw a party to recruit other family members for the upcoming season.

8. PC Pals

Provide intergenerational computer classes, which allow grandchildren to help grandparents learn basic computer knowledge. Encourage family groups to use the computer to communicate.

9. Family Play

Devise activities that provide all family members with opportunities to work out together, e.g. outdoor hikes, biking or walking trips, or sports days. Host a family Olympics, with fun events and categories for all family members. Ensure that activities are accessible for all participants.

10. The Learning Files

Help grandparents share their skills and talents with younger family members by giving them opportunities to teach grandchildren - even if they are learning a topic themselves. Make lesson plans fun and easy. Give tomorrow's plan to grandparents, so they can prepare to teach grandchildren about subjects such as meal planning, reading food labels, or choosing the right footwear for an activity.

Relationships with grandchildren bring love, energy, play and purpose into the lives of older adults. In return, children benefit from the attention, maturity, knowledge and love of their grandparents, many of whom are caring and thoughtful role models. By creating programs that bring together these family members, you can provide individuals with healthier futures and valued life experiences, while improving your bottom line.

The 2nd anniversary of the Let's Move! campaign provides a moment to raise awareness of the obesity epidemic and reflect on two years of real progress.

Thanks, in large part, to Let's Move!, concern over obesity now extends beyond public health circles and may be found in local schools, faith-based organizations, and town meetings. And, perhaps most importantly, the Let's Move! campaign seems to have ignited a golden age of innovation for anti-obesity programs designed to create sustainable healthy habits.

But what fascinates me most about Let's Move! is the role of its champion, First Lady Michelle Obama. Of course, her standing as First Lady provides her with a podium and an audience, but it has been the combination of her passion and energy that has fueled the development of countless initiatives around the nation. Quite simply, she has accomplished what very few studies or policy statements can ever hope to do - she has inspired people to take action.

She is widely viewed as a talented, charismatic communicator, but her skill set is by no means unique in America. American communities are full of passionate and energetic folks who can rally others to their causes. Community leaders are part of our national heritage.

One of this year's major goals for the International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) will be to encourage and support the efforts of IHRSA health clubs - i.e. passionate fitness advocates - to transform their facilities to vital community hubs for healthy living and disease prevention. We believe, wholeheartedly, that the success of the Let's Move! team may be replicated on a local scale by fitness centers. In fact, it's already happening.

IHRSA's commitment to health promotion will be on full display this month at IHRSA's 31st Annual Convention & Trade Show in Los Angeles, CA.

The convention schedule includes sessions such as, "Leveraging Healthcare & Wellness Programming to Better Serve the Community," "If Exercise is Medicine, How do Health Clubs Cure Illness?" and "Lessons from Corporate Wellness to Get People Active."

The capstone session, however, will be a keynote presentation and panel with members of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition ("the Council") to discuss the IHRSA Joining Forces Network and other opportunities for health clubs to impact the wellness of their communities. IHRSA's Get Active America program, for example, will empower clubs to become champions for the Council's PALA+ program, which encourages folks to be active and improve their diet 5 days/week for at least 6 out of 8 weeks. Another offering, IHRSA's I Lost it at the Club, provides clubs with an 8-week turnkey program for responsible weight loss.

For more information on IHRSA's effort to support the operation of health clubs as vital community resources, please check out our Vision for a Healthier, More Prosperous America, and let us know what you think.

What are other organizations doing to create community champions?