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New Opportunity: Illinois Bike/Walk Virtual Learning Collaborative

Illinois Public Health Inst.

The Illinois Public Health Institute and Active Transportation Alliance are pleased to announce a new learning opportunity: The Illinois Bike/Walk Virtual Learning Collaborative. The learning collaborative will support Illinois communities in identifying projects and understanding what will be needed to successfully apply for Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program (ITEP) funds administered by the Illinois Department of Transportation.  This year, state funds make available $50 million in new dedicated funding for walking and bicycling projects in Illinois with at least $50 million available in dedicated funding in future ITEP funding cycles.

This learning collaborative will build capacity in Illinois communities to biking and walking develop projects that will be eligible and competitive to be awarded ITEP funds.

The collaborative will consist of virtual meetings/webinars (6 total). Content will include information on the ITEP fund application process, best practice sharing for selecting eligible walking or biking projects and facilitated group technical assistance/peer-learning to address any challenges faced in developing proposals

Committed cross-sector planning teams of at least two people from Illinois communities are invited to apply. Up to 15 teams will be selected to participate. Multi-jurisdictional teams may apply. Participating teams will receive $500 per team in funding to compensate them for their time and contributions to the learning sessions, and/or other specified activities. See application for details.

The learning collaborative will run from June through October 2020 and is supported with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Learning Collaborative kick-off online meeting will take place on Wednesday, June 3rd from 1:30pm-3:00pm. The rest of the schedule will be released in late spring/early summer 2020.

To learn more and apply, please review and complete the Request for Applications. Please email any questions and the completed application to Sarah.Chusid@iphionline.org with subject line “Illinois Bike/Walk Virtual Learning Collaborative Application.” Applications are due by Friday, May 8, 2020, 5:00pm CT.

A flyer on this opportunity can be accessed here. Please help spread the word to communities that might have interest!

 

Upcoming Webinar – Active People, Healthy Illinois: Preparing public health and transportation to take action together – 8/28/19

Illinois Public Health Inst.

Upcoming Webinar – Active People, Healthy Illinois: Preparing public health and transportation to take action together

Wednesday, August 28, 2:00pm-3:00pm

Register here.

Download the webinar flyer.

Description: By working together, public health and urban planning/transportation professionals can create stronger, healthier communities in Illinois. This webinar provides key recommendations for practitioners to collaborate on the development, implementation and evaluation of initiatives to improve opportunities for physical activity in the built environment. Presenters will provide real-life examples, lessons learned and best practices gleaned from initiatives currently being implemented across Illinois.

Target Audience: Teams of public health and transportation/planning professionals that are interested in or are implementing collaborative built environment initiatives, and are ready to yield the return on investment that comes with meaningful engagement between the sectors!

Presenters:

  • Jamie Chriqui, Professor of Health Policy and Administration, Institute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago will present key recommendations from a new report, Public Health Engagement in Complete Streets Initiatives: Examples and Lessons Learned
  • Amy O’Rourke, Director of Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Cook County Department of Public Health will present on a collaboration with the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association (SSMMA) to integrate health considerations into scoring criteria used to evaluate projects applying for Surface Transportation Funding
  • Melody Geraci, Executive Director, Active Transportation Alliance (ATA), will discuss technical assistance they are providing on a range of built environment initiatives in the Tri-County Region (Peoria, Tazewell, and Woodford Counties ), Jackson County and Chicago/Cook County
  • Carrie Nelsen, IDOT District 9 engineer, will share insights from their fruitful collaboration with the Jackson County Health Department, local municipalities, project stakeholders, and the benefits of that partnership for the community.

Contact Sarah.Chusid@iphionline.org with questions or for more information.

This webinar is made possible with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and administered by the Illinois Public Health Institute in collaboration with partners in the

Illinois Alliance to Prevent Obesity.

Active People, Healthy Nation Gets Communities Moving

Illinois Public Health Inst.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just launched a new campaign to promote active community environments, and it’s amazing! The Active People, Healthy Nation campaign represents the culmination of decades of work by the CDC to advance a bold goal of getting 27 million Americans more active by the year 2027 in an effort to meet the updated Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Active People, Healthy Nation pulls together a virtual encyclopedia of research, strategies and tools for community stakeholders to use in advancing healthy places and people.

A major strategy for getting people more active is to ‘engineer’ the built environment so that getting routine physical activity is built into daily life. People living in communities with an abundance of walkable and bikeable streets, parks and green space, and key destinations within walking distance

As part of this effort, Active Transportation Alliance (Active Trans) is joining forces with the Illinois Public Health Institute (IPHI) and others on the new Illinois State Physical Activity and Nutrition Program, a project funded by CDC. The grant allows IPHI to collaborate with the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), the American Planning Association – Illinois Chapter (APA-IL), local health departments and not-for-profit organizations like Active Trans in making the built environment better for walking and biking. The initiative will focus on three regions in the state: Chicago and suburban Cook County, Peoria/Tazewell/Woodford Tri-County Region and Jackson County.

Active Trans’ work will focus on providing technical assistance in moving pedestrian and bicycling plan recommendations from the printed page into action. Strategies such as grant writing, stakeholder engagement, intergovernmental collaboration, best practices training and community accountability are planned.