Get Healthy Utah worked with the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute to learn more about city and town leaders’ attitudes and strategies regarding the Healthy Utah Community Designation and community health. 139 leaders from 75 Utah cities and towns responded. 

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Many city and town leaders are interested in earning the Healthy Utah Community Designation! If you’re one, check out our website to learn more about what your community needs to do to qualify.
• The Healthy Utah Community Designation has a positive, useful impact.

• Health is a high priority for community leaders across the state. Compared to our 2020 survey, more respondents now believe that municipal governments have a role in community health.
• The Healthy Utah Community Designation focus areas (Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Mental Health) have different levels of prioritization:
  • In Nutrition, many leaders have neutral sentiments about action items, with a notable portion lacking plans for implementation. 
  • Physical Activity sees a strong commitment to both actions and their implementation. 
  • Mental Health is a critical issue across the state, and leaders want to enhance mental health resources.
• The most significant barrier communities face in implementing strategies is funding.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey! We appreciate your help, and we look forward to using these insights to continue improving our resources and the Healthy Utah Community designation. You can view the whole report on our website.