Utilizing Community Assessment to Achieve Policy Change for Reduction of Childhood Obesity

Approximately 17% (or 12.7 million) of America’s youth aged 2—19 years are obeses¹.  In Savannah, Georgia/ Chatham County, the statistics are worse, 1 in 3 children are considered obese².Obese children suffer from serious health issues, psychosocial consequences and lower quality of life than non-obese children³.  To better understand and combat the issue of childhood obesity Healthy Savannah, a local non-profit, hypothesis that policy, system and environmental changes such as having complete streets can improve the health of children. To test this theory a 23 question snowball community assessment surveys was conducted at ten Title I Schools, community outreach events and through the Healthy Savannah webpage. Variables such as age, race, and gender were assessed to gain insight on how certain populations felt about their local childhood obesity rates and a potential Complete Streets ordinance.  1,207 surveys were collected from participant’s aged 13-80. Quantitative data and Qualitative data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel and R, and displayed in accessible format for all audiences. 95% of the people who completed the survey perceived that a Complete Streets ordinance is important or extremely important, 34% believed most or all roads are not bike or pedestrian friendly, and 50% believed that bike lanes are extremely important for getting to and from school, as well as for increasing physical activity. Using evidence-based results from the community assessment, the Savannah City Council approved a Complete Street Ordinance. This study may increase awareness of the significance of policy, system and environmental change on health.