Cleveland Selected to Participate in National Health Initiative

Cleveland has been selected as one of 50 members of the HealthyCommunity50 in the Aetna Foundation’s Healthiest Cities & Counties Challenge to receive a $10,000 community seed award.

Cleveland’s Breathe Free CLE program was initially chosen as an Innovator City and served as an example for other cities and counties to turn to during the application process.

Members of the HealthyCommunity50 were selected based on plans to improve the health of their communities in at least one of five domains: healthy behaviors, community safety, built environment, social/economic factors and environmental exposures.

Through the Challenge, Cleveland will address the ways in which individual health behaviors are impacted at the interpersonal, organization, community and public policy levels to reduce tobacco, working directly with their residents to improve local health. Their participation in the Challenge comes at a critical time when the tobacco use rate in Cleveland is almost twice the national average and 22 percent of high school students in Cuyahoga County use tobacco products.

"At the heart of making a difference in this community is really engaging our residents, and hearing from our residents what's important to them, what will work for them and what will help them to be tobacco-free,” said Natoya Walker Minor, chief of public affairs for the City of Cleveland. “So, none of this work can move forward without resident voice at the forefront."

All selected HealthyCommunity50 members will be visited by an expert judge panel to answer questions, understand the community’s approach to the project first-hand and speak with the members of the cross-sector team and key stakeholders. At the conclusion of the Challenge, the programs most able to show measurable change will be eligible for prize awards from $25,000 - $500,000. Participants will be judged on their own progress and will not be competing against each other.

For more information about Breathe Free CLE and other members of the HealthyCommunity50, visit www.healthiestcities.org.