The Plan4Health program has provided an avenue for chapters of the American Public Health Association and the American Planning Association to fund and complete projects that improve the public health outcomes of the built environment.
"From a program promoting walking in Indianapolis, to efforts to stock Linn County, Iowa, food pantries with nutritious foods, more than a dozen coalitions across the U.S. are making public health a planning priority, thanks to APHA and the American Planning Association," according to an article for the August issue of The Nation's Health, the publication of the American Public Health Association.
The projects described above are examples of the Plan4Health program, "in which APHA-affiliated state and regional public health associations formed coalitions with state planning association chapters on community planning projects with a public health focus." Such coalitions have applied for grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "to address physical activity and nutrition…"
The article includes more examples of the program at work as well as soundbites from those leading the program and its resulting efforts. For more info, the program also has its own website.
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