Strategic Alliance
Organization Overview
The Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity Environments (Strategic Alliance) is a coalition of California's leading public health and health care, parks & recreation, transportation, and nutrition organizations. Strategic Alliance is shifting the debate on nutrition and physical activity away from a primary focus on personal responsibility and individual choice to one that examines corporate and government practices and the role of the environment in shaping eating and activity behaviors. The Alliance's goal is to benefit the health and wellness of all California residents by promoting environmental solutions and institutional and government policies and practices that support healthy eating and activity.
Strategic Alliance is staffed by the Prevention Institute and has a Steering Committee comprised of members from twelve different community organizations. The Steering Committee establishes the overall program and campaign directions of Strategic Alliance. The Prevention Institute is a non-profit national center dedicated to improving community health and well-being by building momentum for effective primary prevention.
Technical Support for HEAC Grantees
To advance the goals of the HEAC program, Strategic Alliance will develop a Local Policy Tracking database and a Rapid Response Media Network.
The local policy tracking database will serve as a vehicle to disseminate model local nutrition and physical activity policies to organizations around the state who are interested in furthering the policy agenda for creating environments supportive of healthy nutrition and physical activity with the goal of widespread implementation of best policy practices. This database will be available to the public including HEAC grantees. Strategic Alliance will track these policies over time to assess outcomes and will use this information to develop case studies and lessons learned.
The Rapid Response Media Network will provide a rapid response to media stories that address obesity, nutrition and physical activity to assure a balanced debate of the issue. They will also provide grantees with guidance on how to respond to media stories and how to act in order to stimulate advocacy and accountability in California. To engage and inform HEAC grantees, Strategic Alliance will:
- disseminate alerts to HEAC grantees regarding significant media stories that address obesity, nutrition and physical activity,
- provide or identify media training tools and opportunities for HEAC grantees,
- facilitate participants to pitch stories to reporters and editors, submit op-eds or letters to the editors, and to visit editorial boards,
- submit letters to the editor and/or op-eds annually on behalf of the Rapid Response Network, and
- send out news releases to state and national wire services.
Contact Information
The Strategic Alliance
265 29th Street
Oakland, CA 94611
Tel: 510-444-7738
Fax: 510-663-1280 |
Leslie Mikkelsen, Managing Director
leslie@preventioninstitute.org |
Website: www.eatbettermovemore.org/
