Health and Equality

• Health and Equality Blog

If current trends in obesity and inactivity continue, today's youth will be the first generation in this nation's history to face a shorter life expectancy than their parents. This health crisis costs the United States over $100 billion each year. The epidemic of obesity, inactivity, and related diseases like diabetes is shortening children's lives and destroying the quality of their lives. In California, only 27% of fifth, seventh, and ninth graders achieved minimum physical fitness standards in 2004. In the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), only 15% of students are physically fit. This crisis is not just the result of individual eating or exercise habits.

Policy makers must work together to provide places to play in schools, parks, and green space so children can get physically fit and perform better academically. Urban areas like Los Angeles fail to provide enough open space for recreation in parks, schools, and other public lands. Los Angeles is park poor. School yards are devoured by portable classrooms. Physical education classes are bloated with up to 75 students. Physical education is not required after 10th grade. Without exercise at school, children are unlikely to get enough elsewhere. There are unfair disparities in access to parks and recreation space based on income, race, ethnicity, and access to cars.

The City Project advocates a comprehensive approach to improve human health and promote healthy communities that includes: (1) green space for recreation in parks, schools, beaches, forests, and other public lands while ensuring the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes; (2) the joint use of parks and schools to make optimal use of scarce land and public resources; (3) physical education for every student every day in every school; (4) educational programs in parks and schools to instill the lifelong values of physical fitness and healthy nutrition; (5) public education campaigns to promote these goals as a matter of human health, educational reform, and sustainable regional planning; (6) healthier alternatives to junk foods in schools and parks, and easy access to drinking water; (7) diversifying access to and support for forests and wilderness areas; and (8) federal and state funding and programs for active recreation on public lands. The City Project is implementing a collective vision for a comprehensive and coherent system of parks, schools, beaches, forests, and transit that promotes human health and economic vitality and reflects the diverse cultural landscape.

The City Project recently published the article Healthy Children, Healthy Communities: Parks, Schools, and Sustainable Regional Planning (584 KB [PDF]) in the Urban Equity Symposium in the Fordham Urban Law Journal. Read the concise four page Policy Brief (364 KB [PDF]).

Download the Policy Brief en español (228 KB [PDF]).

At the request of California State Senator Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch), medical and public health experts and The City Project recommended evidence-based, fundable programs to promote physical activity among children and adolescents. The recommendations will help us in the fight for our children's lives, and for the quality of life for our children and their families and friends.