Our Policies:
- Privacy Policy and Terms of Use: We welcome visitors to the Healthy Places by Design's site at www.healthyplacesbydesign.org (the "Site"). We respect your privacy and confidentiality. As a fiscally sponsored organization of Third Sector New England, Inc. dba TSNE, we follow its Privacy Policy and Terms of Use Notices:
Our Practices:
Healthy Places by Design's organizational practices provide a foundation for modeling the strategies, interventions, and behaviors we seek to improve in the communities with which we work.
- We choose vendors and meeting sites that offer accessible options for routine physical activity and healthy eating.
- We provide supports to encourage routine physical activity, including but not limited to: subsidizing gym memberships; providing flex time for physical activity; offering up to two hours weekly of paid work time for physical activity; encouraging walking meetings and physical activity breaks during extended meetings; and using public or active transportation when possible.
- We identify and offer options to accommodate individuals with varying levels of ability so all employees can fully participate in group physical activities.
- We provide supports to encourage healthy eating, including offering healthy snacks and beverages in reasonably-sized portions at meetings and events that we facilitate; providing healthy choices for celebrations, such as birthdays and holidays; and encouraging non-food related celebrations such as those incorporating physical activity and the arts.
- We commit to a “no dumping” policy in which we avoid bringing candy, cookies, cakes, and other foods and beverages of limited nutritional value to in-person events for group consumption.
- We accommodate individuals with food allergies or other dietary restrictions so everyone has options for healthy eating.
- We encourage good stewardship to the environment by avoiding the purchase of bottled or canned beverages when healthy options are available in bulk (e.g., pitchers of water rather than individual bottles); selecting food and beverages packed in recyclable containers when possible; choosing locally-grown food when healthy, affordable options exist; and reducing, reusing, and recycling in order to generate less waste.
- We encourage the use of language that is positive, encouraging, and supportive of healthy attitudes and behaviors (e.g., referring to the “bike rack” rather than “parking lot” when identifying issues to be discussed at a later time).
- We do not offer food or physical activity as a gift, prize, reward, or penalty (e.g., while food may be provided at meetings, we do not use it as an enticement for attendance; we do not routinely cancel or delay planned breaks for physical activity due to work-related interruptions).
Sources:
- Eat Smart North Carolina: Guidelines for Healthy Foods and Beverages at Meetings, Gatherings and Events. NC Department of Health and Human Services.http://www.eatsmartmovemorenc.com/HealthyMeetingGuide/HealthyMeetingGuide.html
- Setting the Bar: Recommendations for Food and Beverage Industry Action. Strategic Alliance.http://eatbettermovemore.org/sa/fruit/settingthebar.pdf
- ChooseMyPlate.gov. US Department of Agriculture. http://www.choosemyplate.gov/
- Physical Activity and Health: A Report from the Surgeon General. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/sgr/fact.htm