The Value of Leadership Development

The Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program (CCROPP) was founded in 2005 with the mission of combating obesity and improving health in California’s San Joaquin Valley or “Central Valley.”

CCROPP is among a growing number of programs in the nation that use a policy and environmental change approach to help their constituents gain access to healthy food and safe spaces for engaging in physical activity. An important component of CCROPP's work is its leadership training program, in which local residents are prepared to take on leadership roles within their communities. CCROPP partners view leadership development as essential to the longevity of their work and, therefore, to achieving environmental and policy change. Committed local leaders are needed to sustain efforts across funding cycles and through changing economic and political conditions.

This case study examines how, in concrete terms, leadership training has helped to advance CCROPP's policy and environmental change goals, and the implications for obesity prevention efforts in contexts similar to the Central Valley.