Miami-Dade County Recognized In Building A Culture of Health!

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Miami-Dade (66.8% Latino) has a culturally diverse population of over 2.7 million people, but nearly one in three children are living in poverty and in turn dealing with higher health disparities. In fact, various studies, including one from Havard T.H. Chan, has shown that income level and where you live can impact the health and diet of families.

However, new initiatives are changing the future of health in Miami-Dade and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is taking notice, highlighting the county as a winner of the Culture of Health prize.

Miami-Dade’s Consortium for a Healthier Miami-Dade Country has been recognized by RWJF, in creating a culture of health with access to parks that have free fitness equipment, access to healthier foods, and other whole community initiatives.

Over 300 partners including government officials, schools, city planners, churches and more are helping make culturally appropriate preventative health a main focus of the consortium.

Some of the greatest healthy initiatives seen in Maimi-Dade include the county’s ‘Fit to Play’ program that partners with the local university and parks to brings after-school fitness to over 1,700 children daily. Also, some schools have

Also, some schools have increased marketing of plant-based meals, used tech to help track physical activity of students, and have removed sodas from vending machines.

Innovative health education, called Health Information Project (HIP) is also taking place in some Miami-Dade Schools, helping kids help other kids to reduce obesity, suicide, depression and other issues.

In July, according to a recent RWJF article, the county judge helped Liberty City, an area in Miami-Dade, by approving $300 million in capital investments for the community to have public housing, grocery stores, and parks.

Healthy eating and exercise are  vital in community health, but Miami’s Children Initiative (MCI) goes a step further, working with and within the community to create a “cradle-to-college” support system for Liberty City.

Cecilia Gutierrez, CEO of MCI encourages healthy snacking, dancing and helps kids tend to the community gardens in Liberty City, all while hoping to create a culture of health for the whole community.

Having support from the whole county in culturally appropriate ways can revitalize a community, as seen in the Miami-Dade community.

“Miami Children’s Initiative came in and made us want to do better as parents, made us want to do better as people, made us want to do better as a community,” Alicia Wilson, a resident of Liberty City told RWJF.