Category Archives: networkers

What Makes CLOCC Tick: 10 Years of Community Partnerships

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Adam Becker

by Adam Becker, PhD, MPH, Executive Director

Partners and friends,

April marks the beginning of the second quarter of our 10th anniversary year! This quarter, we are focusing on two of the hallmarks of the consortium’s operations – our community work and partnerships as well as public education in community settings.

Community partners are really what make CLOCC a consortium. When we started ten years ago, community organizations and advocates were among the first groups to get involved with the consortium and help to spread the word about the growing obesity epidemic in Chicago. The partnerships that formed and the voices of community partners shaped CLOCC’s mission, priorities, and intervention strategies. At the beginning, we literally built CLOCC organization by organization until we honed community intervention strategies that allowed us to bring partners together more effectively. Once a critical mass of organizations engaged, we formed working groups with specific areas of focus and expertise.

Working Groups continue to be an important engine for the consortium. Although they emerge and dissipate as the needs and interests of the consortium change, and they take different approaches to process and structure, all of them serve three primary functions:

• Keeping the consortium connected to the particular sector they represent and ensuring that the information and resources the consortium has is made available to that sector.

• Ensuring that the consortium as a whole learns from the expertise of those sectors.

• Helping to develop effective strategies for obesity prevention within that sector – sometimes leading to specific funded strategies.

While CLOCC has been and will remain open to partners from communities across Chicago and beyond, leadership agreed early on that we needed to hone our understanding of, and strategies for, addressing the challenges and opportunities for obesity prevention at the neighborhood level. To that end, we partnered with organizations in a few diverse Chicago communities. In 2004, we identified six communities (our “Vanguard Communities”) in which to place neighborhood-based staff and pilot community interventions. We expanded to ten Vanguard Communities in 2006. These community-based staff and their partners helped the consortium as a whole to learn effective ways to reach children, families, and the organizations that serve them. We learned what schools needed and contributed, how parks figure into the community landscape, who was involved in healthy food access activities, and what community priorities were for research and advocacy. In Humboldt Park, our partnership with the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and the Sinai Urban Health Institute, combined with funding from the Otho S. A. Sprague Memorial Institute, resulted in the development of Community Organizing for Obesity Prevention (CO-OP), a key coalition-building strategy of our community-level work. CO-OP was expanded through iterations in Englewood and Pilsen. The CO-OP strategy mobilizes existing community leaders and organizations, supports their collaboration to develop intervention strategies, promotes healthy eating and physical activity at the community level, and links clinical practices to community programs. Specific strategies that are locally relevant emerge under the guidance of CO-OP coalition leaders and members help identify and connect to approaches from other neighborhoods. The CO-OP HP experience is described in-depth in a book edited by staff at SUHI and will soon appear in a new edition of a classic book on community organizing for public health. Although the formal CO-OP structures in the three neighborhoods have merged into other local initiatives, CO-OP remains an option for CLOCC’s engagement in new communities.

In 2011, after a year of review and discussion with CLOCC staff and leadership, we decided to expand from a community-by-community model to a regional approach. Because the field of obesity prevention has matured and we have identified an emerging set of strategies in use in Chicago and across the country that have the most promise for creating change, we are shifting our approach in order to support and engage with more communities across Chicago to ensure that they too have access to this promising set of approaches. Our Community Networkers, formerly assigned to one specific vanguard community, have transitioned into a new role: Community Program Coordinators. In this new role, CLOCC’s community-based staff will connect to more Chicago neighborhoods and bring specific strategies, along with training and support to increase the likelihood of success to partners who are committed to obesity prevention and health-related work. Beginning this quarter, Community Program Coordinators will begin working in city regions – North, West, Southwest, Northwest, and South. We are excited about the new relationships we are already beginning to establish as a consortium as we move to this new model and look forward to connecting to partners in new and innovative ways.

One of the biggest resources we are able to bring to our community partners is our public education message, 5-4-3-2-1 Go!®,  and the tools for training and dissemination that come along with it. The message was developed by CLOCC in 2004, and to date thousands of community partners have been trained on it. Our vision is one of “surround sound messaging” in which children, families, and those who interact with them will see our message everywhere they go, reminding them of the five important elements of a healthy lifestyle – designed with young children in mind but healthy for everyone. To realize this vision, we blanketed Chicago with 5-4-3-2-1 Go! posters, billboards, and CTA advertising in the fall of 2009 as part of a citywide advertising campaign. Hundreds of CLOCC partners helped with distribution, participated in special events, and disseminated the message to their own constituencies. 5-4-3-2-1 Go! materials have been downloaded in 49 states and 18 countries around the world. The demand for 5-4-3-2-1 Go! became so great that we brought on a full-time Health Educator in 2009 to focus exclusively on message training and outreach.

The future of our community work and public education outreach looks bright. Our Healthy Places initiative has helped us to develop and hone a diverse set of environmental change strategies to improve access for all Chicagoans to healthy food and safe opportunities where they live, work, learn, and play – especially in those communities where access is insufficient and obesity-related health disparities occur. Many of these strategies are based on those we piloted in CLOCC’s early work in the vanguard communities. We expect to provide training and technical support to community organizations across the city to support implementation of these new strategies. We will continue to offer free trainings several times a year so interested organizations can learn about 5-4-3-2-1 Go! and explore ways to integrate it into their programming. We are also developing a pilot project to work with organizations to integrate 5-4-3-2-1 Go! more deeply at their organizations in addition to using it in their programs; ensuring that organizational practices, policies, and environments are aligned with the message. As interest in the message grows locally and across the region and nation, we will explore new opportunities to support its use.

CLOCC staff and leadership are grateful to all of the community partners who help keep our consortium strong and vibrant. We are humbled by all that they have taught us. We look forward to new and exciting ways to build on and expand this critical element of our collective work. As a special way to celebrate our community partners during our 10th anniversary, we have launched the We are CLOCC contest with a $2,500 prize – go here for more information.

Next quarter, we will continue along the theme of partnerships and take a deeper look at some of our very unique partnerships beyond those in geographic communities. My July blog post will explore the consortium’s work with corporations, government, schools, and the clinical sector. Talk to you again soon!

Taking Walkability to the Streets at the Safe Routes to School National Conference

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Grant Vitale

by Grant Vitale, Community Programs Manager 

CLOCC Community Networkers Ed Boone, Elvia Rodriguez-Ochoa, and Miguel Morales and I recently attended the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) National Conference.  It was held on August 16-18, 2011 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Safe Routes to School National Conference now in its third year was hosted by the National Center for Safe Routes to School and the Safe Routes to School National Partnership. 

Ed and Miguel presented a Mobile Workshop on Coalition Building and the Neighborhood Walkability Assessment Tool under the conference heading, Coalition Building and SRTS Programming.  Ed’s presentation focused on the successes of neighborhood coalition building in West Humboldt Park and Miguel’s presentation focused on the Neighborhood Walkability Assessment Tool and how to use it in community neighborhoods.  People from a variety of organizations and disciplines attended the workshop.  They turned out to be a group that was quite engaged and interested in the information presented.  They commented on how interesting the CLOCC tool was and how it makes one think about intersections and blocks in a completely different way.  It was great to take them out on the streets and show them how to assess the walking environment.

The SRTS National Conference offered walking tours and bike tours of Minneapolis as well as mobile workshops.  The mobile workshops addressed a number of topics such as design solutions to increase cycling and safety and assessing walkability for users of ages and abilities.  There was also breakout sessions on a wide variety of topics including injury prevention and social equality.  Antonio Rosell from Community Design Group in Minneapolis conducted a presentation on community participatory engagement, which gave great examples on how to ensure community member participation and input for different types of projects and plans.  Some of the concepts and ideas he presented will be very useful for the Networkers to use in neighborhoods when they are working to engage a wide variety of community members on a project.  Ed Ewing from Bicycle Club Cascade presented on the Major Taylor Project which is very successful in engaging youth in cycling in the Seattle area.  I especially enjoyed his presentation because it demonstrated the tremendous benefits of engaging youth in cycling.  The youth learned how to ride bikes and they acquired bicycle maintenance skills.  They were also able to progress from just learning how to ride to participating in endurance rides, which was amazing to see.  This session definitely relates to our work in West Town.

For more information on walkability, visit the Walkability Assessment page on the CLOCC website.  For more information on Safe Routes to School, visit the Safe Routes to School National Partnership website.

SRTS conference

Miguel leads conference participants in a neighborhood walkability assessment

SRTS workshop

Miguel (left) and Ed present at their workshop

Promoting Health and Wellness at Jordan Elementary

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Claudia Olayo

by Claudia Olayo, Rogers Park Networker 

As the CLOCC Community Networker for the Rogers Park neighborhood in Chicago, I have the chance to work with local schools to help promote health and wellness.  One that I have worked with is Jordan Elementary Community School.  Here are some examples of projects we have done together. 

In May 2010, Jordan School completed a Healthy School Environment Assessment facilitated by CLOCC staff. Some of the participants included school administration, teachers, parents, the school’s nurse, lunch room managers, and a few upper grade students.

After the results of the assessment were shared with the group, it was decided that the first step to address some of the issues identified was the creation of a School Wellness Council. Some of the aforementioned participants became the founding members and, voila! The Wellness Council was formed and has been meeting on a monthly basis. The team agreed the first issue to tackle was a lack of drinking water availability to the students during the school day; making drinking water more accessible to all Jordan students was the solution. The Wellness Council decided to use a small amount of grant money allocated from CLOCC to purchase water coolers/crocks in the shape of basketballs and soccer balls, which were approved by the student members of the Council, to be placed in the cafeteria and the gym. The coolers have been well received by parents and especially the students.

Another project the Wellness Council took on was the planning and realization of a Healthy Family Night, where a friendly game of Loteria, a Mexican version of Bingo, was to be played as an alternative to the usual unhealthy chocolate bar/candy sale fundraising.

The evening of March 24, 2011, 25 families turned out to take part in the Healthy Family Night. Parents and children alike participated in an interactive 25-minute bilingual presentation on CLOCC’s 5-4-3-2-1 Go! message. There was also a food demonstration in which a community volunteer engaged children in preparing a simple greens and quinoa salad with apples and walnuts. The parents and children enjoyed the salad and took home a copy of the recipe. That healthy hour showcasing the 5-4-3-2-1 Go! message was followed by an hour of Loteria where some won prizes, others learned a few words in Spanish, and all had fun!

For more information on 5-4-3-2-1 Go! and to see the free tools available for download, visit the CLOCC website.

Promoting Healthy Eating in East Humboldt Park

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Miguel Morales

by Miguel Morales, Community Networker

A stroll through the broad, tree-lined sidewalks of Paseo Boricua, Division Street between California and Western, reveals the sights, sounds and smells of Puerto Rico – pastel colored buildings with Spanish-style facades reminiscent of old San Juan stand on either side; vendors selling coconut ice cream in small paper cups ring the small bells on their push carts; and the scent of sofrito, the tangy base of Puerto Rican cuisine, wafts in the air.  This last sensory experience is probably the most common one, given this neighborhood is the restaurant and business district of East Humboldt Park.

If you walk into one these restaurants, you might see a table tent featuring a healthy menu item that contains fresh produce. This is part of a new initiative by CLOCC partner Community Organizing Obesity Prevention in Humboldt Park (CO-OP HP), a project of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC). In 2009, CLOCC helped to fund Buen Provecho, a project in which local Puerto Rican restaurants modify one of their menu items to feature fresh produce and prepare them in a healthier way. Currently, the restaurants involved are La Bruquena, Coco, La Plena, Papa’s Cache Sabroso, Nellie’s and Café Colao.

In 2004, the PRCC, CLOCC and other partners formed CO-OP HP as a response to the high rates of overweight and obesity among children in West Town and Humboldt Park, which surpassed 60%. CO-OP HP began to engage the neighborhood in programming aimed at changing the built environment and addressing access to healthy food available to the community. CO-OP HP through Buen Provecho is also working with local bodegas to stock and sell fresh produce or products that contain fresh produce – see the photos below.

For more information on CO-OP HP and Buen Provecho, go to http://prcc-chgo.org/coop/ or www.clocc.net.  You can also contact Jose Luis Rodriguez, Program Manager, at joseluisr@prcc-chgo.org.