Mobilizing a Coalition to Influence Physical Activity Policy in Chicago and Illinois

This paper will focus on key strategies used by the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC) to advance physical activity policy and infrastructure improvements. CLOCC is a 12-year old consortium comprised of over 1,300 partner organizations working on approaches to improve physical activity and nutrition at the individual, family, community, institutional, and public policy levels. CLOCC staff and leaders mobilized a diverse array of partners - from grassroots and statewide advocacy organizations to government agencies - to promote efforts to improve city streets, implement P.E. in an urban school district, and strengthen licensing requirements in statewide licensed childcare centers – all of which had increasing physical activity as a goal. Strategies used to mobilize partners include walkability data collection and dissemination, convening listening sessions to ensure that public officials heard community voices, serving on specific advisory bodies where input would lead to policy change, and broad-based communications with a diverse network of constituents about the gaps and opportunities in physical activity policy.