About the Promoting Active Communities Program

Getting Michigan Moving! Benefits of the Promoting Active Communities Program Design Guidelines for Active Michigan Communities Eligibility Recognition for Award Winners Award Levels Previous Award Winners Improvement of the Promoting Active Communities Assessment Acknowledgements Answers to Other Questions

Quick Facts 115 Michigan communities from 53 counties have completed the PAC assessment at least once 38 communities have earned an award more than once To date, no Michigan Community has earned a platinum level award, but many are striving to be the first!

Getting Michigan Moving!

“Active living environments are places where all people are able and inspired to use their feet to get them places. They are places where people of all ages, incomes and abilities can walk and bike - both for recreation and for transportation.”
--Michigan Fitness Foundation

Active living communities make it easy for people to include physical activity in their daily lives. Walking to work, school, the store, or just for fun is safe and convenient. Bicyclists are respected, and roads are built for all forms of transportation, not just cars. Recreation opportunities are accessible—parks, playgrounds, and all kinds of sports facilities are located near people’s homes and are open to all residents.

The Promoting Active Communities (PAC) Program is part of a state initiative on physical activity to help Michigan communities make changes to their policies, promotion strategies, and the physical design of their communities to make it easier for community residents to be physically active. Created by the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH), the Michigan Fitness Foundation, the Prevention Research Center of Michigan, and Michigan State University, the PAC assessment is a web-based self-assessment tool that enables communities to examine their policies, programs, and built environments. The assessment, which requires teamwork between community leaders and citizens, generates ideas for community improvements. Upon completion, every community is eligible to earn one of five award levels from the Michigan Fitness Foundation and MDCH, based on their assessment score.

Since 2001, more than 100 communities from 53 Michigan counties have completed the PAC assessment and received an award. In addition, 38 communities have completed the assessment more than once, and many of those have made enough improvements in their community to move up the awards ladder.

Benefits of the Promoting Active Community Program

Recognition. The resulting award brings recognition to the community for achievements in removing barriers to make it easier for people to be active.

Planning. Personalized community reports enhance the community planning process by describing strengths and potential for improvements.

Partnerships. Local leaders develop new partnerships and enhance existing partnerships as a result of working together to complete the assessment.

Awareness. Media announcements increase awareness among community residents about the community’s vision and assets related to active living.

Marketing. Communities use their award as another mechanism for promoting their communities.

Funding. Communities that understand their needs and assets are well-positioned to be more competitive when applying for funding opportunities.

Design Guidelines for Active Michigan Communities

“If you plan cities for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic. If you plan for people and places, you get people and places.”
--—Fred Kent, founder and president of Project for Public Spaces

One comment consistently heard from previous PAC Award recipients was the need for more information on how to move toward becoming a more active community. For this reason, a guidebook, Design Guidelines for Active Michigan Communities: Imagining, Creating, and Improving Communities for Physical Activity, Active Living, and Recreation, was created to assist Michigan community leaders, planners, transportation officials, parks and recreation professionals, bicycle enthusiasts, business owners, and neighborhood residents -- to envision and create safe, walkable, bikeable and enjoyable Michigan communities. The Design Guidelines is a stand alone publication, downloadable from this website (click here to download the Design Guidelines) and is also linked to the online PAC assessment tool. Certain questions in the PAC assessment have an icon next to them, serving as a direct link to the relevant section of the Design Guidelines which describes how that topic relates to active living. In this way, the Design Guidelines complements the PAC assessment, and supplies an introduction to the topics addressed. Links to additional resources are included should the reader wish to explore any topic more comprehensively.

Eligibility

Any city, township, charter township, or village in the State of Michigan is eligible to complete the online self-assessment, which also serves as the award application. Communities are welcome to use the self-assessment to obtain feedback about what they are doing well to promote physical activity as well as areas where they might improve; the self-assessment can be used in this fashion with or without applying for the award. Communities that previously received an award are encouraged to complete the PAC assessment periodically to strive for higher award levels once they have made progress in improving their policies, programs and current environments to increase physical activity.

Recognition for Award Winners

Each award recipient is recognized at a state-level or local award ceremony. Winners' names are published in statewide publications, posted on websites and displayed on the Michigan Fitness web page, www.michiganfitness.org. In addition, press releases announcing the honor are issued to the winner's local media. At the national level, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is notified of communities earning the highest award levels.

Award Levels

There are five levels of the Promoting Active Communities Award (listed below). An Honorable Mention is given to communities who complete the PAC assessment, but do not score high enough to receive an award. Any community is encouraged to apply for a higher award level when improvements have been made.

Criteria for Award Levels:

Copper: Communities have made a commitment to becoming a healthier place to live and have begun to take steps toward removing barriers to physical activity.

Bronze: Communities have taken important steps toward making it easy for people to be active.

Silver: Communities have achieved significant progress toward making it easy for people to be active.

Gold: Communities can document outstanding achievements in making it easy for people to be active.

Platinum: Communities are models of commitment to healthy, active living.

Previous Award Winners

2000 (2) Level 2 Albion Level 3 Kalamazoo 2001 (11) Level 2 Owosso Level 3 Chelsea Village Clinton Charter Twp Davison Grand Blanc Walker Level 4 Ishpeming Litchfield Kalamazoo Meridian Charter Twp Midland 2002 (22) Level 1 Detroit Southwest Level 2 Buena Vista Charter Twp Charlevoix Grand Rapids Hamburg Twp Harbor Springs Level 3 Alpena Battle Creek Boyne City Clinton Charter Twp Gaylord Jackson Lansing Marquette Monroe Mount Clemens Petoskey Saginaw Van Buren Twp West Branch Level 4 Escanaba Kalamazoo

2003 (16) Level 2 Cadillac Ionia Midland Pittsfield Charter Twp Webberville Village Level 3 Alpena Ann Arbor Canton Charter Twp Grand Rapids Jackson Marquette Port Huron Sault Ste. Marie Van Buren Twp Level 4 Ishpeming Meridian Charter Twp 2004 (13) Level 2 Alma Manistee Orion Twp Level 3 Alpena Birmingham Canton Charter Twp Grosse Ile Portland Sault Ste Marie Level 4 Davison Hancock Port Huron Van Buren Twp

2005 (36) Level 1 Newaygo County Level 2 Cadillac Detroit-The Brightmoor Community East Tawas Kalkaska Village Lake City Ludington Manchester Village Montague Northville Twp Saginaw Sturgis Level 3 Dearborn East Grand Rapids East Lansing Farmington Hills Flint Grosse Pointe Woods Harbor Springs Kalamazoo Twp Lansing Livonia Manistee Northville Saline Trenton Westland Level 4 Alpena Ann Arbor Bedford Twp Canton Charter Twp Dundee Village Kalamazoo Meridian Charter Twp Monroe Portland

Improvement of the Promoting Active Communities Assessment

In 2003, encouraged by so many successes and valuable feedback from participants, MDCH and the Michigan Fitness Foundation teamed up with the Prevention Research Center of Michigan/University of Michigan School of Public Health, and Michigan State University to improve the PAC assessment, increase promotion efforts, and evaluate its effectiveness. This process was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) Grant Number U36/CCU300430-2. The first step was the formation of a statewide Promoting Active Communities Steering Committee, consisting of experts in relevant areas such as social services, legislation, health care, recreation, transportation, urban planning, education, law enforcement, and land use.

The Steering Committee guided the PAC assessment evaluation process, which consisted of three methodologies. First, a systematic literature review of public health, urban and regional planning, and transportation research was completed to identify evidence-based environmental and policy indicators associated with physical activity. Second, focus groups were conducted with previous PAC assessment users and neighborhood leaders. Finally, existing neighborhood walkability, bikeability, and built environment audit assessment tools were collected and evaluated for use in the PAC assessment tool.

Articles and audit measures in the fields of transportation, public health, and urban planning were reviewed. Indicators were identified, categorized, and evaluated for use in the PAC assessment. Click here to view sample results and references from the review.

Armed with new information, the PAC assessment tool was revised to reflect current scientific knowledge and experience-based feedback. A technical assistance document, Design Guidelines for Active Michigan Communities, was created to aid communities in creating active living environments. The new version of PAC and newly developed Design Guidelines for Active Michigan Communities were then reviewed by 28 national and state experts before the final products were published.

Acknowledgements

The Michigan Department of Community Health and the Michigan Fitness Foundation want to acknowledge the following individuals and organizations:

• For their contribution to the creation of the updated Promoting Active Communities assessmet, website and Design Guidelines for Active Michigan Communities: Katherine Alaimo, Michigan State University; Ellen Bassett, Michigan State University; Risa Wilkerson, Michigan Fitness Foundation; Karen Petersmarck, Michigan Department of Community Health; David Mendez, University of Michigan School of Public Health; and Jennifer Mosack, Michigan State University.
  
  
• For their guidance on improving the PAC Program, we thank the past and present members of the Promoting Active Communities State Steering Committee:
  
  

  Georgette Aguilar, formerly of the North Branch Area School Board Katherine Alaimo, Michigan State University Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition Debra Alfonso, Michigan Department of Transportation Ellen Bassett, Michigan State University Urban and Regional Planning Program Trina Boyle-Holmes, Michigan Department of Education Andrea Brown, Michigan Association of Planning Patricia Carrow, Office of Highway Safety Planning Lorie Crothers, formerly of the Michigan Municipal League Charlene Crowell, Michigan Land Use Institute Christi Downing, Michigan Department of Community Health Kelly Dunn, formerly of the Michigan Municipal League Emily Fleury, Michigan Governor’s Office, Cool Cities Initiative Brad Garmon, Michigan Envioronmental Council Pat Gillespie, Gillespie Group Premium Properties Lisa Grost, Michigan Department of Community Health Sue Guggemos, Michigan Fitness Foundation

  Marlene Hulteen, Michigan Health and Hospital Association Mike Maisner, Michigan Recreation and Park Association Maria McKenna, Michigan Municipal League David Mendez, University of Michigan School of Public Health Quentin Moore, Michigan Public Health Institute Steve Pennington, formerly of the Michigan State University Land Policy Program Karen Petersmarck, Michigan Department of Community Health Trudy Rampy, Michigan State Police Prevention Services Section Bruce Ross, Van Buren Township Recreation and Facilities Jean Ruestman, Michigan Department of Transportation Jim Shaw, Michigan State Police Prevention Services Section Michael Thomas, Michigan State University John Warbach, Planning and Zoning Center, Inc. Ron Whitmore, formerly of the Northwest Lansing Healthy Communities Initiative Risa Wilkerson, Michigan Fitness Foundation

• For their thoughtful review of the updated PAC assessment tool and Design Guidelines, we graciously thank:
  
  
  National Reviewers:
  Dan Burden, Walkable Communities, Inc.; Susan Handy, University of California-Davis, Department of Environmental Science and Institute of Transportation Studies; Christine Hoehner, St. Louis University School of Public Health; Harold W. Kohl, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Peter Lagerwey, Seattle Department of Transportation; John LaPlante, T.Y. Lin International.
  
  Michigan Reviewers:
  Rodney Arroyo, Birchler Arroyo Associates, Inc.; Christopher Coutts, University of Michigan; Matt Crawford, City of Vicksburg; Mark Fenton, Partnership for a Walkable America; Randy Fernandez, City of Port Huron; Melissa Fochesato, Washtenaw County Public Health; Todd Kauffman, Michigan Department of Transportation; Edie Kieffer, University of Michigan School of Social Work; Nancy Krupiarz, Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance; Susan McGillicuddy, Meridian Charter Township; Lori Mullins, City of East Lansing; James Pivarnik, Michigan State University Department of Kinesiology and Epidemiology; Joel Rash, Community Foundation of Greater Flint; Warren Rauhe, Michigan State University Department of Geography–Landscape Architecture; Kurt Schindler, Michigan State University Extension; George Sedlacek, Marquette County Health Department; Kevin Shaver; Ottawa County Health Department; Russ Soyring, Traverse City Planning Department; Phil Wells, League of Michigan Bicyclists; and Donna Wilson, New Designs for Growth.
  
  
  
  
• Special thanks to Daston Communications for their work in designing and developing the Promoting Active Communities website and for translating the assessment into an online tool. Also thanks to Julia Reich Design for website graphics and for graphic design of the Design Guidelines for Active Michigan Communities.
  
  
• For providing the inspiration for the original Promoting Active Communities Program through their trainings for state health department staff, we extend our appreciation to the staff of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, Physical Activity and Health Branch, under the direction of Dr. Bill Dietz.
  
  
• For their contributions to the primary content of the original self-assessment instrument, we thank: Dan Burden, Walkable Communities, Inc.; Bill Wilkinson, & Peter Moe, League of American Bicyclists; Mark Fenton; Larry Cohen, Prevention Institute; Carl Casperson, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Lucinda Means, League of Michigan Bicyclists; Mike Eberlein & Art Slabosky, Michigan Department of Transportation; Marla Hollander, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Phil Wells, Michigan Department of Natural Resources; Partnership for a Walkable America of the National Safety Council; National Highway Institute; National Institutes of Health.
  
  
• The updated PAC assessment tool and Design Guidelines for Active Michigan Communities were made possible by funding and support from the following institutions and agencies: a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) Grant Number U36/CCU300430-2; the Michigan Department of Community Health; the Michigan Fitness Foundation; the Prevention Research Center of Michigan/University of Michigan School of Public Health; the Michigan State University Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition; the Michigan State University Land Policy Program; the Michigan State University Urban and Regional Planning Program; and the Michigan State University Agriculture Experiment Station. The contents of this website are solely the responsibility of the Michigan Fitness Foundation and MDCH, and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC, ASPH, or the other supporting agencies.

Answers to Other Questions

To find answers to your other questions, read the Frequently Asked Questions — most of the answers can be found there. If your questions remain unanswered after reading the Frequently Asked Questions, please contact us.