In This Issue
 
* September 8, Houston
* September 11-17, Texas
* September 15, Austin
* Sept. 15-16, Portland, ME
* Sept 26-28, Los Angeles
* October 5,
* October 6-8, Baltimore
* October 15-18, Boston
* November 10-12, Houston
* November 13-15, Houston
* Nov 30-Dec 3, Galveston
* Jan 13-15, Granbury, TX
* Feb 15-17, San Antonio
* March 27-29, Ft. Worth
* Sept 13-15, St. Paul, MN
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Deadline: September 1

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Deadline: September 15

Action for Healthy Kids
Deadline: September 16

Action for Healthy Kids
Deadline: September 16

Clif Bar
Deadline: October 1

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Deadline: November 3

Walmart Foundation
Deadline: Rolling to Dec '16

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Deadline: Rolling

Children's Obesity Fund
Deadline: Rolling
Children & Nature Network
August 24, 10-11am (CDT)

Safe Routes to School National Partnership
August 24, 12-1pm (CDT)

National Center for Safe Routes to School
August 30, 1-2pm (CDT)

Action for Healthy Kids
Sept 14, 3:00-3:30pm (CDT)

Live Smart Texas was formed in 2007 with the leadership of Dr. Deanna Hoelscher and Camille Miller.  Over the last nine years, Deanna and Camille have guided the coalition to improve the lives of children and families in Texas through strategic partnerships and sharing of resources.  

This June, Deanna and Camille stepped down to allow new leaders to guide LST as we start a new decade of collaboration.  Drs. Diane Dowdy and Hoda Sana have hit the ground running and are continuing the great work of our first co-chairs.  We thank Deanna and Camille for their support and are excited to have Diane and Hoda on board as we work together to reduce obesity in Texas children and their families.
 
This fall Live Smart Texas will co-sponsor the 10th Annual Southern Obesity Summit (SOS).  SOS is the largest regional obesity prevention event in the US, drawing hundreds of participants from 16 Southern States. This year's Summit will return to Texas this November bringing together leadership from across the south to share, learn and develop strategies for change. 

LST will host the Texas State meeting on Monday, November 14, and we hope to see you there to share your community's successes and help us identify next steps for the coalition and Texas. For more information visit SouthernObesitySummit.org (registration now open).
  
IT'S TIME TEXAS has released a new white paper: Building a Culture of Health in Texas. The authors interviewed key stakeholders in Texas to get their ideas on why preventable chronic disease is on the rise in Texas, what are the barriers to creating a culture of health, and what opportunities are available to improve the health of Texans. Click here to access the report.

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Safe Routes to School National Partnership has released a new report on how to use data to build walking and biking programs for schools: Safe Routes to School by the Numbers: Using Data to Foster Walking and Biking to School. The report provides information on how to access data and use it to create, improve and expand walking and biking programs. Click  here  to access the reports and fact sheets.
 
The Dallas City Council has approved funding to recruit grocery stores to build in the southern area of the city. The $3 million dollars will be used to bring grocery stores in areas of Dallas that are deemed food deserts and provide access to fresh fruits and vegetables to more than half a million residents in low-income neighborhoods. Click here for more information about the incentive.

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Healthy Living Matters and the Texas Early Childhood Professional Development System have released a call to action for early care and education providers and coordinators to provide training in obesity prevention at their centers. Click  here  for more information about how you can endorse the Call to Action.

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The Paso del Norte Institute for Healthy Living, in partnership with the Paso del Norte Foundation, held a media briefing about new research on how weight bias adds to the problem of overcoming obesity. Survey research with more than 5,000 total respondents found that 41% of English-speaking residents in the region expressed reluctance to interview a person with obesity for a job. By comparison, far fewer Spanish-residents (17%) expressed the same sentiment. Click here to learn more about the survey methodology.
 


On August 1st and 2nd, hundreds of Texans from all sectors and backgrounds, representing all corners of our vast state, gathered at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in the great city of San Antonio. Leaders from Texas' largest corporations and healthcare providers, K-12 educators, employees at health-related agencies and community organizations, fitness instructors, nutritionists and dietitians, professors and their students, doctors, researchers, and small business owners filled the Hemisfair Ballroom Monday morning fueled by a shared aim: to make it easier for Texans to lead healthy lives.

IT'S TIME TEXAS Board Member and Former Texas Comptroller Susan Combs kicked off the event with a powerful keynote speech that reminded us all why we need to work even harder, faster, stronger, and most importantly, together, to make living a healthy lifestyle and raising a healthy family more attainable for all Texans. "For many Texans," Susan shared, "health is simply not part of their daily lives... 27.3% of all Texans are not participating in any kind of physical activity. 17.5% [of adults] and 27% of kids lack access to sufficient, good food to live a healthy lifestyle. Even in our schools, fewer than half of our high schoolers are getting the recommended amount of physical activity and one-third of them are drinking soda every day. Every one of us has to care. Every single one of us has to care about this. It affects everybody."
 



Texas Data  

  • The effect of light rail transit on physical activity:  Design and methods of the Travel-Related Activity in Neighborhoods Study (Durand CP, Oluyomi AO, Gabriel KP, Salvo D, Sener IN, Hoeslcher DM, Knell G, Tang X, Porter AK, Robertson MC, Kohl III HW; Frontiers in Public Health; 2016)
  • Evaluating a school-based fruit and vegetable co-op in low-income children: A quasi-experimental study (Sharma SV, Markham C, Chow J, Ranjit N, Pomeroy M, Raber M; Preventive Medicine; 2016).

  • Other Relevant Research

  • Scaling up physical activity interventions worldwide: Stepping up to larger and smarter approaches to get people moving (Ries RS, Salvo D, Ogilvie D, Lambert EV, Goenka S, Brownson RC; Lancet; 2016)
  • The food and activity environments of childcare centers in Rhode Island: A directors' survey  (Risica PM, Amin S, Ankoma A, Lawson E; BMC Nutrition; July 2016)
  • Healthier standards for school meals and snacks: Impact on school food revenues and lunch participation rates (Cohen JFW, Gorski MT, Hoffman JA, Rosenfeld L, Chaffee R, Smith L, Catalano PJ, Rimm EB; American Journal of Preventive Medicine; 2016).



  • Region 1:  Dr. Naima Moustaid-Moussa, Texas Tech University (naima.moustaid-moussa@ttu.edu )
    Region 2/3:  
    Sonia White, Community Council of Greater Dallas ( swhite@ccgd.org
    Region 4/5N:  Marshall Kratz, East Texas Area Health Education Center (Marshall.Kratz@uthct.edu)
    Region 6/5S:  Katie Chennisi, Harris County Public Health (cchennisi@hcphes.org
    Region 7:  Michael Lopez, Texas AgriLife Extension (MLLopez@ag.tamu.edu) and Kristen Nussa, IT'S TIME TEXAS (kristen@itstimetexas.org
    Region 8:  Kathy Shields, San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (kathleen.shields@sanantonio.gov
    Region 9/10:  Dr. Leah Whigham, Paso del Norte Institute for Healthy Living (ldwhigham@utep.edu
    Region 11:  Dr. Belinda Reininger, UTSPH Brownsville (Belinda.M.Reininger@uth.tmc.edu