Dr. David Weed and Wendy Garf-Lipp of Partners for a Healthier Community organized a forum on April 7, 2016 at the  Yale West Campus Conference Center for the six Culture of Health Prize winning communities in the North East from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). The new winning communities included Everett and Lawrence, MA as well as Bridgeport, CT, and The Bronx, NY, in addition to Fall River. Following a warm-up exercise led by Kitty Jerome from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, participants engaged in two hour-long conversations on their best practices led by representatives each of the six winning communities. Participants also had a chance to connect with others over lunch to permit connections among those doing similar work. Click here for a 47-minute video of the event. Click here for photos and video of the 2015 Prize award event at the Foundation where the idea of a North East forum was first discussed. For more information, contact Healthy City Fall River coordinator David Weed at 508-508-837-9029.

(Top row) Fall River Youth Services Coordinator Christian McCloskey boards one of two vans that took ten Fall River participants to New Haven where United Neighbors of Fall River Executive Director Wendy Garf-Lipp checked in some of the sixty participants, including Kitty Jerome and Carrie Carroll from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. (Row two) Fernando Tirado, Director of New Initiatives for the Center for Healthy Equity in the Bronx District Public Health Office, talks with Partners School Wellness Coordinator Marcia Picard and Cambridge Public Health Department Officer Claude-Alex Jacobs while Ms. Garf-Lipp greets Carrie Carroll and Amy Slonim. (Row three) Kathleen O'Brien of the Everett Community Health Partnership describes her work in one of the conversation sessions before lunch, and Partners Fitness Challenge Organizer Annemarie Holly leads the group in a stretching exercise. (Bottom row) Wendy Garf-Lipp and Claude-Alex Jacobs wrap up the session before a final group photo.