Creating healthy communities takes multiple strategies. Read on to learn how locations throughout Cook County are making policy, systems, and environmental changes to make the places we live into Healthy HotSpots.

Bringing Complete Streets to Life for Suburban Cook County Residents

Complete Streets improvements can take years to design, fund, and build. Pop-up Complete Streets events showcase temporary street treatments and provide community members with an immediate, tangible visualization of Complete Streets designs. In summer and fall 2016, Active Transportation Alliance held six pop-up events in suburban Cook County municipalities that were made possible with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Temporary facilities such as bicycle lanes, crosswalks, and roundabouts were created with materials like duct tape, tar paper, and paint. Residents of all ages came out for the events. Three municipalities are now planning to construct permanent facilities. For more information, contact Maggie Melin. Watch video series>> >>

Cook County Sweetened Beverage Tax to Boost Community Prevention Initiatives

The Cook County Board of Commissioners passed a sweetened beverage tax in November 2016. Effective July 1, 2017, the tax will help fund critical County health and criminal justice services while also addressing the top source of added sugar in our diets - sugary drinks. The Cook County Health & Hospitals System will invest some of the tax revenue collected in new grant opportunities for healthcare and community transformation. Grants will support multi-sector partnerships that advance policy, systems and environmental improvements that promote healthy living. Promoting Rethink Your Drink resources can also help raise awareness of the health harms of sugary drinks. Help spread the word >>

A Safe Place to Call Home: Immigration as a Public Health Issue

A forum a t the University of Illinois at Chicago highlighted the threat to community health posed by recent immigration enforcement actions of the Trump administration. New federal immigration policies and deportation have public health consequences: several studies confirm that all immigrants (both documented and undocumented) change their health-seeking behaviors when the threat of deportation is increased. When people are afraid that they will be stopped by police, they don’t report crime including domestic abuse, don’t attend medical appointments, don’t drive to purchase healthy foods, and don’t go outdoors for physical activity. Immigrants self-report poorer health status after raids, and research indicates increased rates of low birthweight babies born after raids – regardless of mother’s immigration status. In response, some suburban communities, like Oak Park and Berwyn, have adopted “welcoming city” ordinances, which clarify the role of municipal police and confirm their separation from federal immigration officials. Find out more about the impacts of immigration policies on health, and discover some tips for ways agencies can support immigrants in their communities. Learn more >>

Tobacco 21 Passes in Maywood!

In the first victory of a broad-based initiative to reduce tobacco use, Proviso Partners for Health’s proposal to increase the tobacco purchase age from 18 to 21 was unanimously approved by the Maywood Village Board on Tuesday, May 2, 2017. In doing so, it joins Chicago, Evanston, Oak Park, Highland Park, Deerfield and Naperville in making strides to curb tobacco use and improve the health of its residents. Since almost all smokers begin smoking during adolescence or young adulthood, raising the minimum legal sales age helps reduce the number of youth who start smoking. Interested in learning more about Tobacco 21 for your community? Contact Lainie Sanker from Respiratory Health Association. Read local news story >>