Meeting

Workshop Goal: Gain insight from community obesity prevention programs on the challenges and promising approaches for evaluating and acting on complex policy and programmatic interventions.


PROGRAM


8:30A Registration


9:00A Welcoming Remarks

Patricia Crawford, PhD, University of California, Berkeley

Marion Standish, Director of Healthy Environments, The California Endowment

Loel Solomon, National Director of Community Health Initiatives, Kaiser Permanente


9:45A-11:40A Panel I: What information do community based programs need to meet their goals?

Moderator: Patricia Crawford, PhD

Key Questions:

· What information do community based programs use?

· How do you find information on how to run and assess programs?

· Do you link nutrition and physical priorities to broader community priorities?

· What information do programs need to sustain their efforts?

Speakers:

Gerardo Mouet, Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Agency, City of Santa Ana, CA

Leslie Bernard, Associated Black Charities, Baltimore, MD

Genoveva Islas-Hooker, Central California Center for Health and Human Services, Fresno, CA

Canary Girardeau, Summit Health Institute for Research and Education, Inc., Washington, DC


1 hour Lunch


12:40P - 2:10P Panel II: What is the level of evidence needed to inform policy?

Moderator: Sarah Samuels, DrPH, Samuels and Associates

Key Questions:

· What is the practitioner’s experience with informing policy?

· What evidence does a community-based program need to inform policy?

· What information does the program feel it needs to inform policy?

· What is the response of policy makers?

Speakers:

Jeff Levi, Trust for America’s Health, Washington, DC

Joe Curtatone, Mayor, City of Somerville, MA

Allison Karpyn, The Food Trust, Philadelphia, PA

Rebecca Flournoy, PolicyLink, Oakland, CA

Derek Birnie, Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, Seattle, WA


Break


2:30P– 4:00P Panel III: How do community perspectives influence decision makers?

Moderator: Mary Story, PhD, RD, University of Minnesota

Key questions:

· Where does obesity prevention evidence fit into public policy decision-making?

· How do policy-makers gather, use and evaluate evidence in decision-making?

· What challenges do policy-makers face in finding and using evidence?

· What types of evidence are most useful to policy-makers?

· What are examples of policies in obesity prevention that have been influenced by specific programs?

Speakers:

Dan Drummond, Fairfax City Council Member, Fairfax, VA

Ben Thomases, City Food Policy Coordinator, New York, NY

J. Walter Tejada, Arlington County Board Member, Arlington, VA

George Leventhal, Montgomery County Council Member, Rockville, MD

Gretchen Musicant, Commissioner, Department of Health and Family Support,

Minneapolis, MN

Pierre Vigilance, Director, Department of Health, Washington, DC


4:00P– 4:30P Closing Remarks

Marion Standish

Loel Solomon