If Clevelanders in Motion were a recipe it would call for a dash of humor and a pinch of mental stimulation with its dose of exercise.
Instead it’s a project faced with a growing challenge of getting people moving, so the group spent its first year (2006) looking for sensible bites to the whole enchilada of healthier living.
They started by printing recipe-card sized guides that offer short, scenic walks in the city. Its one-part exercise, social hour and history lesson on Cleveland (sets include walks in Slavic Village, Detroit-Shoreway, Ohio City, and Downtown with Central, Forrest Hills and Hough coming soon).
“People want to safely recreate close to home, and its good for those outside the city who think first of the Metroparks,” project manager Barb Clint says about the city walks. “We plan to launch walking clubs from this. It’s more comfortable for people to walk in groups.”
Raising awareness of healthier foods is the next step. A ‘Water is Cool’ campaign is in the works. Ads such as a high-flying LeBron James extending for a bottle of water instead of Gatoraid – poke fun at power drinks and bring simple goals like cutting back on soft drinks within reach.
And recipe cards available at local Dave’s Supermarkets offer ideas for lightening up popular meals – both in calories and by injecting humor such as ‘set the beans to medium and tumble on the floor with your kids for 2 minutes.’
Clint is affiliated with the YMCA of Greater Cleveland, so she plans on tapping into the national network’s resources. For example, Cleveland was one of thirteen communities recently named to the YMCA Pioneering Healthier Communities nationwide campaign, which is providing Clint a grant to plan, with local health officials, ways to promote health.
“I think there’s huge potential to bring a ‘Y’ presence to communities through local recreation centers, which in Cleveland are working at 50 percent capacity with no weekend or late night service (hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.).”
Whatever direction Clevelanders in Motion takes toward regional health, every step will be in the spirit of having a good time doing it.
Active living resources
Active Living by Design
Ohio Coalition for Physical Activity
Campaign for Active Transportation
