» Eagle County Colorado Healthy Communities Coalition of Eagle County

Healthy Communities Coalition of Eagle County

The Healthy Communities Coalition seeks to examine the impacts of healthy eating and active living (HEAL) policies on a county-wide scale. Findings from the review will be used to pilot a program encouraging community members to play an active role in supporting HEAL programs and policies to build healthier communities.

Our Vision:
By 2020, Eagle County will be a community that promotes and fosters a healthy environment for all.

Our Mission:
The Healthy Communities Coalition facilitates and empowers the community into action for lifelong wellness through healthy eating and active living.

The Healthy Communities Coalition is comprised of professionals, advocates, community members and leaders who are committed to fostering health among all residents in Eagle County. Coalition initiatives are focused around health eating and active living and works to build a healthier Eagle County by:

Fostering networking and collaboration among individuals and organizations related to healthy eating and active living
Encouraging and fostering partnerships and collaboration
Supporting the development and implementation of evidence-based initiatives related to improving community health.
The Coalition can serve as an asset to help existing organizations achieve goals related to healthy eating and active living.

Work Groups:
Strategies/projects are selected by the Coalition using a prioritization process. When a strategy is selected, a work group forms to develop and implement that strategy. Work groups are comprised of Coalition members, and may bring in other external community members and leaders as it is relevant to that work. Each strategy work group will determine a leader to keep work organized and moving forward. The work group will determine how best to communicate and collaborate. Following the implementation of the strategy, the work group will celebrate the success, and then disband.

Healthy Communities Coalition Goals:

Refine the Coalition’s structure and functionality in terms of member/partner development, collaboration and data collection.
Increase communication, promotion and awareness of the Healthy Communities Coalition and expand outreach to diverse sectors.
Continue to implement projects/evidence-based strategies to improve opportunities for healthy eating and active living among all in Eagle County.

The targeted community for the coalition was Eagle River Valley of Eagle County. The established activities reached approximately 56,000 people, depending on the strategy. The coalition sought to:

Increase the understanding of policies for healthy eating and active living by implementing a policy scan of all Eagle River Valley Town and County comprehensive plans
Increase messaging supporting policy and environmental changes by Towns through the passage of resolutions that prioritize healthy eating and active living through the built environment
Increase health equity by developing a cross-jurisdictional collaborative system for authentic community engagement between Latino residents and Eagle River Valley municipalities
This activity utilized Neighborhood Navigators and those who received community engagement training

The Plan4Health grant enabled the Healthy Communities Coalition to complete work it already set out to do in a more efficient and in-depth way. The Healthy Communities Coalition holds quarterly in-person meetings, and the built environment meetings in person or by phone as needed in the meantime. In addition, the coalition maintains communication with Coalition members through a monthly newsletter that includes updates about the Plan4Health project as well as other relevant initiatives and programs that are supporting healthy eating and active living in the community.

Due to recognized synergies with other community-based groups and as a result of significant organizational changes at Eagle County government, we are exploring the possibilities of merging coalitions and combining efforts. This would alleviate duplicated effort on maintaining coalition structures (e.g. steering committees, governance documents), reduce meetings for community partners to attend, and assure better alignment of efforts.

Check out the resources below and the coalition’s website to learn more!