Areas of Focus / Healthy Kids Zone
Healthy Kids Zone
A project that brings community members within a ½ mile radius of a school to work together on identifying community challenges and health-promoting policy solutions.
Background
2013
CHC collaborated with other local community and government partners to designed HKZ as a way to mitigate neighborhood-level environmental issues that contribute to health disparities (e.g., over-concentration of fast food and liquor stores, lack of healthy food options, lack of safe open spaces, inadequate active transportation conditions, etc.).
2016
Partners asked CHC to serve as the backbone organization to implement the pilot and evaluate the process and outcomes to publish a playbook for HKZ replication, citywide.
2015
The City of Los Angeles incorporated the concept into its Plan for a Healthy Los Angeles, the health element in the General Plan. The Los Angeles Department of Public Health and the City of LA co-convened key partners for one year to design a partnership and develop a Healthy Kids Zone pilot project
2017
CHC has been implementing HKZ at Fremont High School in South Los Angeles, with the support of a workgroup of local community organizations, school staff, and residents.
2013
CHC collaborated with other local community and government partners to designed HKZ as a way to mitigate neighborhood-level environmental issues that contribute to health disparities (e.g., over-concentration of fast food and liquor stores, lack of healthy food options, lack of safe open spaces, inadequate active transportation conditions, etc.).
2015
The City of Los Angeles incorporated the concept into its Plan for a Healthy Los Angeles, the health element in the General Plan. The Los Angeles Department of Public Health and the City of LA co-convened key partners for one year to design a partnership and develop a Healthy Kids Zone pilot project
2016
Partners asked CHC to serve as the backbone organization to implement the pilot and evaluate the process and outcomes to publish a playbook for HKZ replication, citywide.
2017
CHC has been implementing HKZ at Fremont High School in South Los Angeles, with the support of a workgroup of local community organizations, school staff, and residents.
HKZ Today
As part of the workgroup, residents, known as HKZ Ambassadors, engage their peers in discussions about community issues and solutions. Ambassadors have been trained to collect data on challenges important to their community, in addition to coordinating community meetings where issues are prioritized and strategies for addressing them, identified. After a yearlong community assessment and engagement process, these are their current priorities:
1
The Impact of Cannabis and Alternative Tobacco Products on the community
2
The Impact of the Streetscape on Health, Mobility, and Public Safety
3
High Rents and Increased Homeless Population
Documents/Resources
HKZ Report (2015):
Outlines the HKZ concept, methodology and pilot application in Los Angeles and how it can be applied in other school communities. The report can be found here.
Community Updates:
See what has been going on in the HKZ community.
- Flyer updated June 2020
- Community Update
Articles:
Updates on CHC’s current work related to Health Kids Zone click here.
Get Involved Today!
This project is funded in part by L.A. Care Health Plan and will benefit low-income and uninsured residents of Los Angeles County. Additional support has come from the Crane Fund for Widows & Children, UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity and the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, California Mental Health Services Authority, and individual donors like you.