Current ALRC Demonstration Projects

Current Projects | Healthy Coastal Connections | Emerging Leaders

For 2009-2010, the Active Living Resource Center has launched two major public health initiatives, both in the southern United States. The Organizing for Regional Change Program is currently being piloted in/around the Mobile, Alabama area as the Healthy Coastal Connections Project. The statewide Emerging Leaders Internship Program is initially being launched in the Tennessee cities of Chattanooga (host of Pro Walk/Pro Bike 2010) and Nashville.

Both the Organizing for Regional Change Program and the Emerging Leaders Internship Program have been designed to positively affect the health of children by increasing their opportunities for physical activity and increasing access to healthy foods. We intend to accomplish this through policy initiatives that are supported by community advocates and regional leaders, and by reforming existing transportation planning practices.

Organizing for Regional Change: Healthy Coastal Connections
The Active Living Resource Center has partnered with Smart Coast (Fairhope, AL) to affect policy change to support walking and bicycling in the Mobile Bay area, and throughout the adjacent counties of Mobile and Baldwin. Four field visits are planned to support the Healthy Coastal Connections Project. Our areas of focus: Complete Streets, Safe Routes to School, bicycling and pedestrian safety, and reforming land use practices so that local government, school districts, and the private sector can collaborate more closely on planning decisions.

To read more about the Healthy Coastal Connections Project, click here.

Emerging Leaders Internship Program: Tennessee
The Active Living Resource Center will be working in Tennessee to establish a statewide network of undergraduates and graduate students from colleges and universities who will work to develop local walking and bicycling related projects. We will start by piloting the Emerging Leaders Internship Program in Chattanooga and Nashville. We will engage students in the fields of Public Administration, Planning, Engineering, Public Health, as well as in non-traditional fields, to offer them the opportunity to experience how better and more bicycling and walking can transform individuals, neighborhoods, and whole communities. It is our hope they will take these lessons with them as they enter the professional workforce and become active civic participants and leaders.

To read more about the Emerging Leaders Internship Program, click here.

Program contact: Sharon Roerty | sharon@bikewalk.org