Following a comprehensive external review process of a written application and short   video presentation, Fall River was selected as a finalist for the national Roadmaps to Health Prize by the Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. A four-person team visited Fall River on October 4th and 5th to better understand the community's approach to recognizing and addressing a broad range of health issues. Following a three-hour tour of the City, the group met with Mayor Flanagan before joining another group for dinner and conversation at the Trio Restaurant. The team then met for three hours the next morning with fifteen members of the Partners overall effort to improve the health of the City. Results of the visit will be announced in December when six of the eleven finalist communities across the country will be selected as models for the rest of the nation. A national announcement of all six of the Prize winners will be made in February following videotaping in each community during January. Click here for a video of the tour and here for a video of the group interview. For more information, contact Healthy City Fall River coordinator David Weed at 508-324-2411.

(Top row) The Roadmaps team members David Kindig, Naima Wong, Kirstin Siemering and Mary Pittman board a City bus at the Hampton Inn to tour environmental structures with Mass In Motion coordinator Julie Kelly, making a stop at Britland Park to meet with Fall River Police Lt. Paul Bernier. (Row two) The tour continues with visits to Boys & Girls Club director Peter McCarthy, 21st Century coordinator Paul Moniz, Spencer Borden Elementary School Principal Michael Ward and Bristol Workforce Investment Board Youth Systems Coordinator Kathryn Politano. (Row three) WORD Inc. staff Ann Hemmer and Stella McRee, SSTAR executive director Nancy Paul and South End Clinic director Denise Wright, and DPH staff member Michael Coughlin meet the Roadmaps team. (Row four) The team meets with Mayor Flanagan, Bicycle Committee chair Brian Pearson, Fall River public works director Ken Pacheco, and Fall River Health and Human Services director Henry Vaillancourt, M.D. before exiting through the stairwell art gallery. (Row five) First Baptist pastor Rev. Donald Mier, HealthFirst Community Relations and Development Director Paula Harrison, former mayor and DCR Commissioner Ed Lambert and Micheal Coughlin join the team for dinner and conversation at Trio before Dr. Kindig convened a meeting the following morning in the HealthFirst community room. (Row six) Healthy City Fall River coordinator Dave Weed takes the group through a PowerPoint slide show about Partners before Partners chair Wendy Garf-Lipp and vice-chair Jamison Souza lead off the discussion and introduce Christian Barios who spoke about youth violence prevention programs. (Row seven) Worksite wellness coordinator Angela Bannister, Citizens for Citizens staff member Lee Leblanc-Corrigan and city grant writer Jane Dibiasio add their perspectives. (Bottom row) Tobacco control coordinator Marilyn Edge, DPH regional office staff member Maria Evora-Rosa, and Saint Anne's Hospital's diabetes educator Rose Marie Couto speak before the three-hour session ends.