The Healthy Kids Initiative is a faith based advocacy effort to reduce childhood obesity in the Rosedale neighborhood of Kansas City by promoting active living and healthy eating. We are advocating for a number of strategies including community gardening and increasing access to healthy foods; increasing out of school activities for Rosedale youth; safe routes for pedestrians, including designated pedestrian and bicycle routes and Walking School Bus routes to the elementary schools; and increased involvement of the faith community both in the neighborhood and these strategies.
We have held two community forum events, a kickoff at the garden in May, which featured local DJ Miles Bonny, Unified Government Commissioner Ann Murguia, and Dr. Joseph Donnelly from the University of Kansas Medical Center; and an alternative Healthy Kids Carnival in July, which was organized jointly by the parent committees of Rainbow Mennonite CDF Freedom School and the Healthy Kids Initiative, and was a benefit for Rainbow Mennonite CDF Freedom School. We are planning a fall event focused on pedestrian issues.
The Healthy Kids Initiative was formed as a partnership between Rosedale Development Association, the Rosedale Ministerial Alliance, KC Healthy Kids and the University of Kansas Medical Center. We are funded in part through a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
