Positive Changes at the Neighborhood Level

“The Resident Leadership Academy is a true investment in human capital within commonly overlooked neighborhoods”

photo credit: heac on flickr

The Community Health Improvement Partners (CHIP) is a collaboration of health related organizations and agencies working in San Diego County.  In a project funded by Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) dollars, CHIP is developing a Resident Leadership Academy (RLA), which aims to foster and support leadership at the neighborhood level and provide community members the needed skills to weigh in on local planning processes.  The Resident Leadership Academy is working to not only inspire locally driven change, but give community members the tools to do that effectively and with confidence.

The Residential Leadership Academy includes 10 leadership and educational development sessions in these initial pilot communities: Oceanside, National City, Lemon Grove and Southeast San Diego.

photo credit: heac on flickr

In many instances, you hear of community members not being at the table when critical decisions regarding their city, their neighborhood, are being made.  This program is geared to help change that.  To not only inspire local leadership, but to give people the tools to effectively engage in community decision making.

Each pilot community is developing and implementing an improvement project aim at improving the food and physical activity environment. For information about the Resident Leadership Academy please contact:

• Southeast San Diego – Project New Village – Diane Moss – (619) 462-6684
• National City – Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center – Amy Carstensen – (619) 434-4260
• Lemon Grove – Lemon Grove School District – Robin McNulty – (619) 825-5655
• Oceanside – Vista Community Clinic – Silvia Alcantar – (760) 631-5000 x7113

For general information, contact Yeni Linqui Palomino at ypalomino@sdchip.org.

This project is among the many exciting efforts happening in San Diego County funded by CPPW federal funds.  These grants funded by dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), are to reduce risk factors for poor health, prevent/delay chronic disease, promote wellness in children and adults, and bolster the ability of health jurisdictions to address obesity, physical inactivity, and poor nutrition.

Innovative projects like the Residential Leadership Academy are excellent models to look at while working on potential grant proposals for recently announced over $100 million in funding for up to 75 Community Transformation Grants.

A big thanks to Senior Director Dana Richardson at CHIP for sharing this exciting program with us.