This spring, Get Healthy Utah partnered with the Utah Foundation and Guiding Our Growth to host the first-ever Healthy Communities Roadshow! The roadshow, which ran from March to May 2024, consisted of ten in-person events around the state:
- Farmington City (Davis County Region)
- Nibley City (Bear River Region)
- Ogden City (Weber-Morgan Region)
- Park City (Summit/Wasatch Region)
- Price City (Southeast Region)
- Provo City (Utah County Region)
- Sandy City (South Salt Lake Region)
- City of St. George (Southwest/Five County Region)
- West Valley City (North Salt Lake Region)
- Vernal City (Uintah Basin Region)
The events lasted two hours each and educated community leaders on resources and strategies for building a healthy community. Attendees included mayors, city councils, regional staff and planners, health coalition members, local health departments, and more. The roadshow connected leaders with their local resources and gave them the tools and knowledge needed to improve health where they live.
Partner Presentations
The roadshow events began with three partner presentations from Guiding Our Growth, the Utah Foundation, and Get Healthy Utah.
Guiding Our Growth
Utah is one of the fastest growing states in the nation, and that growth comes with both benefits and challenges. On the one hand, rapid growth indicates that Utah is an amazing place to live and many families choose to remain here for generations. On the other hand, growth can be difficult to manage and can strain our housing market, infrastructure, and natural resources.
To ensure that Utah not only grows, but grows in a way that reflects the wishes of its residents, the Utah State Legislature funded the Guiding Our Growth initiative. Residents from every county were surveyed about key issues like housing, water availability, transportation, and open space. The feedback, compiled in 2023, serves as a valuable tool to advise both local and state-level policymaking. To view the results, visit https://guidingourgrowth.utah.gov/survey-results/.
Utah Foundation
The Utah Foundation is a non-partisan public policy research group that publishes research on the most critical issues facing our state. Last year, the Utah Foundation released three reports as part of its Healthy Communities Series. The reports were titled Healthy Communities: Enhancing Open Space, Healthy Communities: Advancing Wellness and Safety, and Healthy Communities: Cultivating Food Access.
The reports share that in order to grow most effectively, Utahns must understand and address the underlying factors affecting population health, safety, and nutrition. These reports, made available on the Utah Foundation website, are full of evidence-based recommendations for bettering life in Utah.
Get Healthy Utah
Get Healthy Utah partnered with the Utah League of CIties and Towns to create the Healthy Utah Community designation. This designation, attainable by cities and towns of all sizes, is awarded to communities that implement evidence-based health practices. To earn the designation, a community must submit a letter of commitment, organize a local health coalition, carry out projects that improve nutrition, physical activity, and mental wellness, and draft a 3-year community health plan.
To date, nearly 50 communities have earned the designation, with more applying every year. To learn more, visit https://gethealthyutah.org/healthyutahcommunity.
Healthy Utah Community Highlight
Following the partner presentations, leaders from a local Healthy Utah Community presented on the ways their city or town promoted wellness and earned the designation. Examples include securing bonds for park and trail expansion, organizing fun community events, and prioritizing the needs of vulnerable populations like the elderly. At the end of each presentation, attendees were permitted to ask questions.
Group Discussion
Following the community highlight, Alysia Ducuara from Get Healthy Utah led the attendees in a group discussion. Topics included the assets and barriers that impact health in their local area, and the types of health policy that leaders were most interested in implementing. Answers were shared verbally in the group and through an interactive poll.
Roundtable Discussions
At the close of the event, attendees were given time to network and visit various roundtables. The roundtables featured local experts who shared resources for building healthy communities. Following the event, attendees were asked to complete an evaluation and were emailed a link to the slides and all content shared throughout the day.
Conclusion
The Healthy Communities Roadshow was a great success! A big thank you to all our regional partners and the more than 400 individuals who attended.
For those who missed the roadshow but would like to view a recording, you may access a one-hour webinar version HERE. You may also click HERE to view an eight-minute summary video.