About Us
In 2006, a collaboration of funders came together to create the Healthy Eating Active Living Convergence Partnership, with the shared goal of changing policies and environments to better achieve the vision of healthy people living in healthy places. The steering committee includes representatives from The California Endowment, Kaiser Permanente, Kresge Foundation, Nemours, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention serve as critical technical advisors on the committee. PolicyLink, a national research and action institute devoted to advancing economic and social equity, serves as program directors for the partnership. Prevention Institute, a national non-profit organization dedicated to improving community health and equity through effective primary prevention, provides policy research and analysis along with strategic support.
The Convergence Partnership supports multifield equity-focused efforts to create environments that support healthy eating and active living.
About the Steering Committee
The California Endowment (TCE) The goal of TCE’s Community Health and Elimination of Health Disparities Program is to build healthy communities by improving the social and physical environments that shape health behaviors and outcomes. The effects of poverty, acculturation and inequality have a dramatic effect on the ability to make changes in lifestyle, and on the healthy options that are available – especially in disadvantaged communities where social, economic and environmental disparities converge.
TCE’s Healthy Eating, Active Communities Initiative (HEAC) seeks to demonstrate that by transforming the food and physical activity environments of resource-poor, low-income income communities it is possible to change norms that foster unhealthy food choices and inactivity. For more information visit: Healthy Eating, Active Communities Initiative (HEAC).
Kaiser Permanente
KP’s Community Health Initiatives (CHI) seek to transform the health of our communities by linking an evidence-based and prevention-oriented approach to medicine with community activism and proven public health interventions. The thematic focus of CHI is Healthy Eating, Active Living or HEAL. HEAL addresses the obesity epidemic with a multi-faceted, long-term approach that crosses the full spectrum of health promotion. For more information visit: Community Health Initiatives (CHI). The thematic focus of CHI is Healthy Eating, Active Living, or HEAL program area. HEAL addresses the obesity epidemic with a multi-faceted, long-term approach that crosses the full spectrum of health promotion. For more information visit: HEAL.
Kresge Foundation The Kresge Foundation, in partnership with their grantees, seeks to influence the quality of life for future generations by creating access and opportunity in underserved communities and by advancing environmental stability. They are a national foundation long recognized for their support of the construction and renovation of hospitals and health-care facilities. Given the broad and complex health challenges plaguing residents of many communities in the United States today, they have decided to expand their efforts significantly. In June 2008, they launched a major program to address the health inequities found in many low-income and minority communities. Their Health Program has adopted an integrated, cross-sector, multi-system approach to community wellness. They are interested in addressing health issues associated with the natural, built and social environments of low-income communities. For more information, visit Kresge's Health Program.
Nemours
Nemours is a children’s healthcare institution whose mission is “To provide leadership, institutions, and services to restore and improve the health of children through care and programs not readily available, with one high standard of quality and distinction regardless of the recipient’s financial status.” For more information visit: Nemours.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The RWJ Childhood Obesity Initiative has the goal of reversing the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015 by improving access to affordable healthy foods and increasing opportunities for physical activity in schools and communities across the nation. For more information visit: The RWJ Childhood Obesity Initiative. RWJ has also recently launched the Commission to Build a Healthier America, a national, independent and nonpartisan health commission. The Commission will focus on factors outside the health care system and identify non-medical, evidence-based strategies—both short- and long-term—to improve the health of all Americans. The group will investigate how factors, such as education, environment, income and housing, shape and affect personal behavioral choices through an extensive inquiry that will include regional field hearings. The Commission members represent a diverse group of innovators and experts with the ability to cross traditional boundaries, mobilize partners to action and identify practical, timely solutions. For more information visit: theCommission to Build a Healthier America.
The W.K.Kellogg Foundation
The Kellogg Foundation’s U.S. Cross Programming work is designed to take a holistic approach to addressing key social issues. It often puts an emphasis on two or more of the Foundation’s existing interests/priority areas (Example: a program might address priorities as they relate to both health and food systems/rural development). For more information visit: Kellogg's U.S. Cross Programming. The W.K. Kellogg Food & Fitness Initiative works to create vibrant communities that support access to locally grown, healthy, affordable food, and safe and convenient places for physical activity and play—for everyone. For more information visit: Food & Fitness Initiative.
About the Technical Advisor
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
As the leading public health agency in the United States, the CDC scientifically considers all factors that affect the health of the nation. As we embark into the 21st century, the interaction between people and their environments, natural as well as human-made, continues to emerge as a major issue concerning public health. Healthy Places are those designed and built to improve the quality of life for all people who live, work, worship, learn, and play within their borders -- where every person is free to make choices amid a variety of healthy, available, accessible, and affordable options. For more information visit: Healthy Places. The CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity takes a public health approach to address the role of nutrition and physical activity in improving the public's health and preventing and controlling chronic diseases. For more information on CDC's healthy eating/active living intiatives, please visit the News & Resources page.
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