Assessment for Active Living
All community partnerships funded through Active Living by Design (ALbD) conducted some form of community assessment. Resulting data helped develop understanding of the community and determine appropriate interventions, while community involvement in the assessment process itself fostered community engagement and support.
The ALbD initiative funded 25 community partnerships across the U.S. from 2003-2008; these partnerships were charged with using five “community action” strategies to change environments and policies to make it easier for people to lead active daily lives. While ALbD did not specify expectations nor designate grant funds for community assessments, the initiative did share some assessment tools and training with the partnerships. Part of a three-year cross-site evaluation started in Year Three of ALbD funding, this study uses data from focus groups, interviews, and the ALbD Progress Reporting System to examine community assessments conducted by the partnerships.
Key Findings:
- All partnerships did some form of community assessment: 22 of 25 conducted audits—usually walking audits by professionals, advocates or community members—of the built environment, while surveys and focus groups were also common.
- The partnerships used community assessments to gather data to identify, prioritize and refine their implementation.
- Involving community members in early assessment efforts helped build constituencies for change that supported success during design, planning, and implementation.
- Some partnerships used data collected through community assessments for focused advocacy, an “opportunistic and practical” use of data for community action.
The most effective community assessments were likely those that identified specific barriers to physical activity, such as broken sidewalks. But the assessment processes themselves built community collaborations that facilitated change and provided a foundation for future data collection to evaluate the impact of ALbD.
American Journal of Preventive Medicine Presents the Evaluation of RWJF's Active Living by Design Program
- 1. Lessons from a Mixed-Methods Approach to Evaluating Active Living by Design
- 2. Capturing Community Change
- 3. Identifying the Role of Community Partnerships in Creating Change to Support Active Living
- 4. Assessment for Active Living
- 5. Evaluation of Physical Projects and Policies from the Active Living by Design Partnerships
- 6. Programs and Promotions: Approaches by 25 Active Living by Design Partnerships
- 7. Active Living by Design: Sustainability Strategies
- 8. Concept Mapping: Priority Community Strategies to Create Changes to Support Active Living
- 9. Evaluation of Active Living by Design
- 10. Evaluation Results from an Active Living Intervention in Somerville, Massachusetts
- 11. Bike, Walk, and Wheel
- 12. A Walking School Bus Program
- 13. Creating a Moment for Active Living via a Media Campaign
- 14. Isanti County Active Living
- 15. Using a Bicycle-Pedestrian Count to Assess Active Living in Downtown Wilkes-Barre
- 16. Active Living by Design's Contributions to the Movement
- 17. Healthy People and the Design Sciences
- 18. Active Living by Design and Its Evaluation
- 19. A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of School-Based Active Living Programs