On Wednesday, January 21, the Sacramento Valley Section of the American Planning Association (APA) honored the Design 4 Active Sacramento (D4AS) team, which includes Sacramento County Public Health Officer, Olivia Kasirye and Sacramento County Principal Planner, Judy Robinson. They were awarded for the work they’ve done to shape the building environment in Sacramento County to support a healthy lifestyle. The Sacramento Valley Section gives local Vision Awards annually to individuals, organizations and projects that have made exceptional contributions to creating places that challenge the community to think differently about how environments can affect health.
Design 4 Active Sacramento is a multidisciplinary health advisory committee created by WALKSacramento, a non-profit organization focused on improving existing and proposed built environments to increase physical activity in the community. The goal of the D4AS team is to help reduce the burden of chronic disease through education and policy changes that promote community environments where daily walking and biking are the easy choice.
“Our organization is very impressed with the work D4AS team has done to shape the built environment to support walking, biking and other healthy activities, and especially the strong inclusion of the medical community in this effort,” says Tricia Stevens, Sacramento Valley APA Section Director.
The Sacramento Valley Section board chooses three award recipients from a list of nominees put forward by members. D4AS team was chosen in-part for the inclusion of leadership from the medical community and their promotion of public health through built environments. The team has worked with the cities, Sacramento County, and the state in creating design strategies and guidelines.
“The built design plays a critical role in public health,” says Olivia Kasirye, Sacramento County Public Health Officer. “A community designed to encourage more physical activity can help reduce chronic disease and improve the overall health of the community.”
Congratulations to Dr. Olivia Kasirye, Judy Robinson, and the D4AS team! Thank you for your hard work in helping make our community healthier one built environment at a time.
