Best Starts for Kids will soon release our next round of requests for proposals. Our focus is healthy and safe environments and seek proposals that align with the following strategies and indicators:
Healthy Food/Food Access 
Improve school nutrition, improve healthy options in emergency food systems (food banks), develop youth-led efforts and youth-led campaigns to counter advertisement of unhealthy foods, reduce/limit exposure to unhealthy food in children and youth focused environments, and increase community-based access to healthy and affordable food.
Indicators: Recommended fruit and vegetable consumption; soda or sweetened-beverage consumption; and policies that promote healthy eating and discourage unhealthy eating.
Physical Activity
Improve school and after school PA/PE, increase access to transit, develop joint/shared use agreements where community members have access to spaces to be physically active such as schools when schools are not in session, and develop approaches to improving safety in recreation and physical activity.
Indicators: Recommended levels of physical activity and policies that improve environments and/or promote physical activity.
Unhealthy substances and dangerous products
Reduce exposure to unhealthy substances such as tobacco, vapor products, marijuana and other drugs, as well as dangerous products such as firearms/guns. Develop youth-led counter advertising campaigns and efforts to assess the environment to determine youth access of unsafe products.
Indicators: Alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, or other illicit drug use; safe storage of firearms; and policies that promote not using harmful substances or products.
Safe & health promoting environments
Increasing policies, systems and environment changes (i.e., in streets, parks, schools, homes, etc.) to give community members the best chance to be safe and healthy. Areas of focus include: 1) Improvement of community safety and reduction of crime, especially as it relates to safe public places for physical activity, 2) Develop/create home and community environments that support health and are free of building/housing-related hazards and toxics.
Indicators: Exposure to violence; feeling safe/healthy in my home/community/school; intentional and unintentional injuries; unintentional poisonings; asthma; policies that result in safe and health promoting environments; and, policies and plans that encourage proactive response to unhealthy housing/building quality.
Stay tuned as we are excited to share the RFP and application soon!
