Committees Now Forming for Healthy Kingston for Kids Project, Volunteers Sought

Cornell Cooperative Extension Ulster County (CCEUC) and several partners are leading an initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic in Kingston, NY through environmental and policy change. Four committees are charged with seeing out the work plan of the grant, and partners are looking for Kingston residents and interested parties to become volunteer members of the committees. You can become involved in the committees in the following ways!

Healthy Afterschool Snacks
-Contact the Chairs
Members of this committee will work closely with the school district and afterschool programs to change the food available to youth during the afterschool hours. They will develop nutritional and cultural criteria for afterschool snacks, write a model healthy snack policy to be adopted by institutions in Kingston, and assist institutions to make changes in practices. The chair is Laurie Mozian, (845)338-2500 ext. 4061 or lmozian@kingstonhospital.org.

Safe Routes to Schools and Parks
The committee’s next meeting is March 23 at 6 p.m.
at the Cornell Cooperative Extension Ulster County office at 10 Westbrook Lane in Kingston.
Volunteers sought for community mapping team, coordinating walk and bike to school days, collecting data, and assisting with a “Walking School Bus” project. More info.
This committee will form a GIS Community Mapping Team of adults and youth to map routes to schools and parks. The committee will use the maps and data to identify priority non-motorized transport infrastructural or safety improvements. They will also work with schools to organize a “Walk to School Day” in October and to establish “Walking School Buses” for routes to at least four schools in the city proper. Chairs are Kristen Wilson, (845) 340-3990 or kew67@cornell.edu and Steve Noble, (845) 331-1682 ext. 7336 or SNoble@kingston-ny.gov.

Community and School Gardens
-Contact the Chairs
This committee’s primary objective is to create community and school gardens throughout the city. Members will work with community members, parents, teachers, and youth to obtain access to resources for the construction and practical use of gardens. The committee will also work to develop local produce markets in walkable distance from Kingston neighborhoods in the form of farmerÂ’s markets or increased access to local produce at corner stores. The committee meets monthly. Chairs are Julie Noble (845)331-1682 ext. 7339 or
JulieLNoble@kingston-ny.gov and Arthur Zaczkiewicz (845)877-5263 or zaczkiewicz@yahoo.com

Complete Streets
-Contact the Chair.
The primary task of this committee is to educate the public concerning the characteristics of complete streets and advocate for complete streets policy adoption in the City of Kingston. Members will assess the possibilities and barriers for streets that are more fully designed to accommodate pedestrian, bicycle, and transit mobility in the City of Kingston. The chair is David Gilmour, AICP, contacted at (845) 616-2278 or completestreetscce@yahoo.com.

Partners include the City of Kingston, the Kingston City School District, the Kingston Land Trust, the Community Heart Health Coalition, Gilmour Planning, the Rose WomenÂ’s Care Service, and the Ulster County Health and Planning Departments. To receive regular updates about the Healthy Kingston for Kids project, send an email to Arthur Zaczkiewicz at zaczkiewicz@yahoo.com to subscribe to our email newsletter.

Previous post on these initiatives:
Cornell Cooperative Extension Ulster County seeking volunteers to assist with four health and fitness initiatives for children

CCEUC/4-H Youth Development is looking for long-term volunteers who would like to sit on one of our four committees : Safe Routes to Schools and Parks, Complete Streets, Community and School Gardens, or Healthy Afterschool Snacks. The committees will begin meeting in March, and members of the committees will be directly involved in advancing the project’s work plan for the first year. If you have questions about the work plans of any of the committees, please contact Kristen at 340-3990.

As the project gets underway, we will need short-term volunteers for tasks such as data collection. We’ll be looking for volunteers to take an audit of safety problems on walking and bicycling routes in Kingston, to tally snack options at vending machines, snack bars, and school sporting events, and to monitor park use in the city of Kingston.