FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 13, 2003	CONTACTS: Tom Gleason, Forest City Stapleton 303-382-1800 tgleason@fcdenver.com Rich McClintock, Livable Comm. Support Center 303-477-9985 – rich@livablecenter.org Helen Thompson, Colorado On the Move, 303-315-9045 helen.thompson@uchsc.edu
Active Living Partnership Receives National Grant to Connect Health and Community Design at Stapleton Project Promotes More Active Lifestyles to Combat National Trend Toward Obesity
Denver - The Friends of the Center for Human Nutrition, a Colorado based nonprofit organization, announced today that it has received a $200,000 grant for the Active Living Partnership at Stapleton (ALPS) from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to demonstrate that the design of the pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods at Stapleton can lead to more active and healthier lifestyles. The ALPS initiative is part of Active Living by Design, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation established to create, enhance and promote environments that make it safe and convenient for people to be more physically active. "We expect that Active Living by Design community projects will demonstrate to communities across the country how feasible it is to use design--parks, trails, walking paths-- to create and promote better health,” said Katherine Kraft, senior program officer for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “These small changes promise to improve the health of our children for years to come." “These funds provide us with a great opportunity to ensure that metro Denver becomes a national leader in creating more livable and healthy communities,” said John Hickenlooper, Mayor of the City and County of Denver. “We are very pleased to be one of 25 partnerships across the country selected to make active living a priority,” Helen Thompson, chair of the ALPS project said.” With our community partners we intend to demonstrate that the design of communities such as Stapleton can lead to increased physical activity and a more healthy lifestyle as a natural part of our daily routines,” Thompson said. With the five-year grant, the ALPS project will focus on several key areas: transportation, land use and street designs and policies; expanding active living in schools and recreation opportunities. These activities will provide an opportunity for metro Denver leaders from the public, private and nonprofit sectors to define links among community design, land use, transportation, architecture, trails, parks and other issues that influence healthier lifestyles. Recent studies have suggested that neighborhood design and a lack of options for transportation may contribute to obesity and inactivity. Recent national statistics show that nearly one in four American adults is sedentary, and the number of overweight children has doubled since 1980. The lack of physical activity has been identified as one of the major health risks facing the public, especially children in Colorado. Obesity and diabetes are on the rise. According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), over 50 percent of Colorado residents are overweight and nearly 15 percent are obese. Studies have shown that more people will exercise regularly if physical activity can be designed into everyday activities, and if their community is pedestrian friendly and provides convenient and safe walkable destinations and recreational opportunities. “Community design and limited transportation choices often prevent people from leading physically active lives," said Richard Killingsworth, director of Active Living by Design. “We decided to award the grant to the ALPS project because it is an innovative partnership that will create places, programs, and policies that make physical activity something everyone can access and enjoy.” The Active Living Partnership at Stapleton (ALPS) has been established to promote active living at Stapleton and its surrounding neighborhoods. ALPS will coordinate and promote active living programs for residents and employees, and will work with the Stapleton Foundation, the City and County of Denver and Stapleton’s master developer Forest City to ensure that the greater Stapleton area is designed to promote active living. The initiative is fueled by the opportunity to create a neighborhood that maximizes active living as a model for other developments and redevelopments across the U.S. “Forest City is pleased to be a partner in this project, given our commitment to enhance Stapleton’s growing reputation as a national model of sustainable development and a new standard for ‘the art of urban living’,” said John Lehigh, chief operating officer for Forest City Stapleton. “We have a tremendous opportunity with the assistance of the ALPS grant to achieve our goal for making the greater Stapleton community one of the most active walking communities in America, ” said Beverly Haddon, CEO of the Stapleton Foundation for Sustainable Urban Communities. Current ALPS partners include University of Colorado Health Sciences Center’s (UCHSC) Stapleton Center for Healthy Living, the UCHSC’s Center for Human Nutrition, Forest City Stapleton, the City and County of Denver, the Stapleton Foundation for Sustainable Urban Communities, the Livable Communities Support Center, Feet First, Denver Healthy People 2010 and the Greater Park Hill Neighborhood Alliance, as well as more than a dozen other organizations from the non-profit, public and private sectors (see complete list below). The Project has four main task forces that will carry out the work of the Project: Transportation/Business, Neighborhoods/Schools/Parks, Policy/Community Design and Communications/Promotions. “This diverse alliance of health and community design experts has tremendous potential to create model livable communities that promote active living and good health,” said Rich McClintock, Project Supervisor and program director for the Livable Communities Support Center. Active Living by Design is a $16.5-million national program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is based at the School of Public Health at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. More information about Active Living by Design can be found at www.activelivingbydesign.org. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in Princeton, N.J., is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. For more information, go to www.rwjf.org. ### Active Living Partnership at Stapleton (ALPS) Partners List Lead ALPS Partners o City and County of Denver o Feet First o Forest City Stapleton o Livable Communities Support Center, a program of the Center for Regional and Neighborhood Action o The Stapleton Foundation for Sustainable Urban Communities o University of Colorado Health Sciences Center’s - Center for Human Nutrition o and UCHSC’s - Stapleton Center for Healthy Living Other ALPS Project Partners Organizations o Bluff Lake Nature Center o Citiventure Associates o Denver Healthy People 2010/Denver Department of Environmental Health o Greater Park Hill Community Inc. o Metro Denver Black Church Initiative o MLK Recreation Center o Northeast Park Hill Coalition o Park Creek Metro District o Regional Transportation District (RTD) o Sand Creek Greenway Regional Partnership o The Adams Group o The Urban Farm at Stapleton o Trust for Public Land Individuals Aurora City Councilmember Nadine Caldwell Denver City Councilmember Michael T. Hancock Denver City Councilmember Marcia Johnson Current as of 11/13/03