Talking Cities, Lived Experiences, and Movement-Making
One of the many privileges of being part of the Active Living By Design (ALBD) team is forming long-standing relationships with community partners, learning from their experiences, and celebrating their successes. I recently had the pleasure of joining the Talking Cities podcast and catching up with Matt Enstice, CEO of Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc. (BNMC).
ALBD first began working in Buffalo during 2002 through the Active Living by Design (ALbD) grant. The lead agency for the grant, BNMC, had recently formed as a non-profit, and our organization had just been established the prior year as the National Program Office for the ALbD initiative. In some respects, we grew up together.
Since 2002, BNMC, ALBD, and the healthy community change field have evolved and generated many lessons learned over the years. In my conversation with Matt, we took a trip down memory lane, reflecting on the emergence of the active living and healthy communities fields, how they’ve grown over the years, and current issues and trends that cities and community partnerships should stay attuned to in their efforts to build a culture of health. We shared personal perspectives about the importance of lived experiences, keeping feet on the ground while working on a national scale, local elected officials setting the tone to transform communities, social media lifting community voices, and the importance of carving out time to learn. You can listen to our conversation by visiting Talking Cities Episode 23.
To learn more about the history of Buffalo’s healthy community work, check out their Lessons for Leaders story, and revisit my blog on their continuing work, Culture Change Sustains and Thrives in Buffalo.
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