Communities ChooseWell at the Healthy Community Challenge Health Expo

Come visit the Communities ChooseWell booth at the Healthy Community Challenge Health Expo being held on Saturday, March 22nd in Calgary at Cardel Place.  This event is happening from 11:00 am - 3:00 pm.

The Health Expo will offer a wealth of health and wellness knowledge and resources to help you and your family make small changes that can yield huge results.

Cardel Place and local community partners will be launching Calgary’s first Healthy Community Challenge presented by ATB Financial. This at-home 90, 60 or 30 day challenge (March 24 to June 21) is designed to encourage whole communities to get moving and be healthier in mind, body and spirit. Come sign-up for the challenge or just learn more about how you can start leading a healthier life today.

The Health Expo will also feature a free Fun Zone for families and kids.

We'll see you there!

Communities ChooseWell 2014 Regional Forums

Communities ChooseWell will be hosting their 2014 Regional Forums in the following communities:

March 21 - Sexsmith, Sexsmith Civic Centre, 9917-99 Ave
March 28 - St. Albert, Grandin Clubhouse, 5 Grenfall Avenue
March 31 - University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Dr W, Lethbridge. AH100
April 2 - Bowden, Bowden Friendship Club, 2133-18 Ave

This year, ChooseWell champions and community partners will have an opportunity to learn about Communities ChooseWell resources, share successes and struggles, explore their role as leaders and agents of change, and use the NEW ChooseWell Healthy Community Scanning Tool to help evaluate how they can make their community a healthier place. Click here for more details on this year's forums.

Forums will run from 10am to 3:30pm, and funds are available to support travel costs. Lunch and a light breakfast will be served. To register for a forum, please fill out our RSVP form.

2014 Communities ChooseWell Registration Open!

Registration for the 2014 edition of the Communities ChooseWell program is now open, and it's free!

What is ChooseWell? 
It's a healthy eating, active living initiative that helps support your community or organization enhance wellness through education, partnerships and capacity building. Communities ChooseWell is funded by Alberta Health and managed by the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association.

How does Communities ChooseWell support community wellness?
• Resource toolkit supports public education, promotion and participation
• Funding opportunity supports healthy eating or active living initiatives
• Webinars and other educational opportunities for local wellness champions
• Provincial challenges provide ready-made ideas and opportunities to engage residents
• Networking and sharing of ideas between communities
• Recognition for effort and achievements in creating a healthier community

The early bird deadline is January 31! Take advantage of being drawn for a number of great prizes.

Learn more about ChooseWell and register by click here!

Graduation of the ACE 'Diversity Friendly' Communities

ARPA’s Active, Creative, Engaged (ACE) Communities initiative has resulted in a clearer understanding of a “process” for community change that can be applied to many issues and challenges.

Interested in this change process, the Alberta Justice’s Human Rights Education and Multiculturalism Fund (HREMF) funded ARPA to work with four rural Alberta communities from 2011 - 2013. For this particular project, the focus was supporting communities who were interested in becoming more diversity friendly.

Reflecting the mission of the HREMF, the goal of the ACE ‘Diversity Friendly’ Communities (DFC) project was to increase community capacity, using recreation, parks, arts, culture, and heritage as a catalyst, to foster equality, reduce discrimination and racism, and remove organizational barriers that exclude some Albertans. Specifically, this meant that all Albertans would have the opportunity to participate in the social, cultural, political, and economic life of their community without discrimination.

Carstairs, Grande Cache, Jasper, and Rocky Mountain House have now completed their time as the four ACE ‘Diversity Friendly’ Communities. Out of this process, these communities worked on various projects that included: 1) establishing a ‘Welcoming Newcomers’ Coordinator; 2) working with natural assets like trails to make them more accessible to all; 3) heritage-themed camping and inclusive hiking workshops and; 4) a community storybook celebrating people’s uniqueness.

ARPA’s ACE ‘Diversity Friendly’ Communities (DFC) initiative was also chosen by HREMF for a study on social outcomes due to the exceptional activity in our communities. So thanks to all of those who were involved in this remarkable work!

Active Airdrie is building momentum!!!

Congrats go out to Active Airdrie and the launch of their new website: www.activeairdrie.com.  As one of the participating communities in ARPA's Active Community Strategy (ACS) Development Initiative, Active Airdrie used their seed funds to create this online resource aimed at helping the community of Airdrie live an active lifestyle.  This resource is an online search engine that allows local citizens to find events sorted by interests for seniors, adults, youth, and families. It also allows users to find activities in their area and on certain days.

The goal of this fabulous resource: "To increase and sustain a physically active Airdrie by encouraging and promoting activities that support a healthy lifestyle".

Hurrah! Check it out at: www.activeairdrie.com

Bring the Family Back to the Table Together with the Sobeys 21 Days to Healthy Eating Challenge!

With after school activities, working late and busy schedules it’s no wonder that families eat fewer and fewer meals together. Yet eating meals together as a family is beneficial for the entire family’s health. Whether it is breakfast, lunch or supper at home in the park or the arena, families can still enjoy a nutritious meal together! Family meals not only improve nutrition, and encourage better communication and socialization for family members, but they also help save money and even have been linked to children doing better in school. Healthy eating means to eat nutritious and balanced meals.

Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide categorizes food into four food groups: i) vegetables and fruits, ii) grain products, iii) milk and alternatives, and iv) meat and alternatives. Foods from the four food groups are rich in the nutrients needed to support the health of people of all ages. Families should aim to include foods from 3-4 food groups at breakfast, lunch and supper. Filling their plates with nutritious foods like colourful fruits and veggies, whole grain products, and low fat dairy products will ensure that families are eating healthy meals and getting the nutrients needed to maintain both long and short term health. For more information on healthy eating go to Health Canada’s site (www.healthcanada.gc.ca/foodguide) and learn more about healthy eating with Canada’s food guide. Healthy U (www.healthyalberta.ca) is another great website full of resources, recipes and articles to help families understand nutrition and make healthy eating easy!

Communities ChooseWell values the importance of family meals and invites you and your community to take part in the Sobeys 21 Days to Healthy Eating Challenge and to eat at least one home-cooked, healthy meal together every day for 21 days. The challenge is happening across Alberta from September 9-29th, 2013. Families can pick up a logbook from any Sobeys or IGA store and register online at www.arpaonline.ca/choosewell/events to win some great prizes, including grocery gift cards, cookware, family activity kits and more! Participating ChooseWell communities can also win a healthy living grant!

Be sure to encourage people and organizations in your community to “Like” the Communities ChooseWell Facebook page (www.facebook.com/communitieschoosewell) and follow us on Twitter (@ARPAChooseWell), where they can share stories, recipes, meal conversation ideas, tips, etc. with ChooseWell and others. Also check out the resources on our website to help you get your community excited about the Sobeys 21 Days to Healthy Eating Challenge!

Alberta Communities Receive Funds for Healthy Living Initiatives

Communities ChooseWell: A committee representing health, recreation, and community development reviewed 58 applications from ChooseWell communities for seed funding for local projects to reduce barriers to healthy living.

In the end, sixteen projects were selected from across Alberta, encompassing many different demographic groups and healthy living strategies, and $30,045 was dispersed. Congratulations and best wishes to the following communities who received grant funding:

Bonnyville
Bowden
Boyle Street (Edmonton)
Coronation
Delburne
Fort Vermilion
Innisfail
Kainai
Kate Chegwin School (Edmonton)
Langdon
Lethbridge
Meadowbrook School (Airdrie)
Morinville
Sexsmith
MD of Smoky River
Trochu