Buffalo Chosen as Model City to Host Healthy Community Convening

In 2015, the BNMC received a five-year Creating Healthy Schools and Communities grant from the NYS Department of Health to create healthier workplaces and increases access to healthy affordable foods in underserved communities in the city of Buffalo. This year we are pleased to be hosting the annual conference for our fellow grantees in Buffalo.

Chosen for its many healthy living initiatives, Buffalo, NY will hold the third annual convening of the Creating Healthy Schools and Communities (CHSC) grantees, hosted by the New York Obesity Prevention Center for Excellence (OPCE). For the past three years, 25 CHSC grantees and their partners have been working with schools, businesses, government, and other groups to ensure places throughout New York State provide access to healthy foods and beverages and opportunities for physical activity.

Convening attendees will have the opportunity to experience Buffalo’s bike and car shares, visit an urban farm, learn firsthand about Buffalo Public School’s (BPS) wellness efforts, and go to several healthy workplaces such as the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC). As a CHSC partner, BNMC will showcase its demonstration sites for healthy workplaces, including healthy subsidized vending, Farm to Work programs, treadmill and standing desks, and onsite fitness facility equipped with locker rooms and showers.

The BNMC has also been involved in Buffalo’s healthy corner store initiative, a collaborative coalition of representatives from various organizations working to increase healthy food retail throughout the city, as well as the BPS wellness policy and its Farm-to-School efforts