Healthier Evansville was developed as an attempt to raise awareness throughout the Evansville community regarding the issues of good nutrition, physical activities, healthy lifestyle choices and the importance of physical activity to the health of individuals and the community as a whole.
Started by the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation School-Community Council in 2006, Healthier Evansville was created by E-VSC employee Ginny O’Connor as a way to get the Evansville Community to think about the little changes they can make in their lives to encourage a more healthy lifestyle year round. Now retired from the EVSC, O’Connor spent 40 years as a nurse and was convinced good health was a worthy community effort. In addition, she encouraged the community to make simple changes like taking the stairs at work, parking in the back of the parking lot rather than the front and watching portion sizes more closely.
Now in it’s sixth year, Healthier Evansville is a collaboration of community partners dedicated to promoting healthier lifestyles through physical activity, proper nutrition and healthy choices to positively impact the individuals and families of our community and to eliminate preventable diseases caused by unhealthy lifestyles. Healthier Evansville envisions a community that supports a healthy lifestyle for all its residents. Healthier Evansville has now spawned a website that includes all events and information about healthy initiatives throughout the Tri-State region. Healthier Evansville continues to oversee the website.
Timeline
2011 - Healthiertristate.org launched to include events and information about healthy initiatives throughout the entire Tri-State.
2010 - Administration of Healthier Evansville moves to WNIN. New Website is launched
2007- A new tagline is created to go with our logo. It is "Working Together for Students’ Success."
2006 - Healthier Evansville creates a Celebration Week to promote 4 points of health. The week is such an unexpected success due to the collaboration of the entire community. Thousands of people participate in the week. Because of its success, the initiative has now grown to be a year long event with quarterly "highlighted" programs.
Creating A River of Opportunity conference is offered at USI.
SCC partners with McREL to offer a conference with three specific topics: Community Collaboration, Coordinated School Health, and After School Programs.
The Nutrition and Physical Activities team creates a Wellness and Fundraising Resource Guide to be shared with each school.
2005 - The Nutrition and Physical Activities Team completes a recipe book with the help of teachers, parents, students, dietitians, and team members. This is a health giveaway or reward for health fairs and events.
The Healthier Evansville Initiative is developed out of the Nutrition and Physical Activities Team. It is hoping to bring awareness of health issues to the entire community.
2004 - IDOE Grant is received for Coordinated School Health Training.
SmokeFree Communities Grant is received for $50K. The Asthma Team will help direct those dollars.
2003- The School-Community Council creates their own website that can be accessed through the EVSC website.
A July conference is hosted at USI with several nationally known authors and speakers.
The Health and Wellness Teams are created and consist of an Asthma Team, a Nutrition/Diabetes Team, a Mental Health Service Team, and a Dental Team.
A Communication Team is developed to better inform the community about the School-Community Council. The first Communicator is mailed out to 2500 businesses in the area.
Dexter Elementary school is picked to be the pilot school for the Health and Wellness programs. Dexter’s motto is "Fit, Healthy and Ready to Learn."
2002- EVSC receives a Welborn Foundation Grant to support the School Community Collaboration.
2001- Schools and agencies come together to create the Mission Statement and develop goals through focus groups.
2000 - Milken Festival for Youth Service Grant awarded to fund service-learning projects in the community. School-Community Council is created. “The Big Table” with over 50 community agencies come together to support children and families.
1997 - St. Mary’s Mobile Outreach Clinic begins bringing medical services to school communities in the EVSC.
"Building Communities from the Inside Out" Conference, planned and sponsored collaboratively by EVSC and Family Resource Center, is held with over 200 participants from across the state in attendance. National experts on school community collaboration make presentations.
1995 - Cedar Hall works with Leadership Evansville. Monthly community meetings are held to identify strengths and areas of concern.
GED program and preschool programs are started at Cedar Hall in response to community needs. Step Ahead Council awards grants to support development of day care program for parents.
1991 - Community Collaboration begins with United Way funding after-school programs through a grant from Lilly at Culver, Cedar Hall, Delaware, and Lincoln. Partners include Carver Community Center, YWCA, 4-H, YMCA, and Girl Scouts.
Excerpts from the above were taken from To Your Health: 2006 Tri-State’s Healthcare Guide published by Tucker Publishing.
