Community Stories

Partnering for Success  

The Siouxland District Health Department (SDHD) partnered with the Healthy Siouxland Initiativeon a family-friendly outdoor festival at Sioux City’s Cone Park for their midwinter campaign launch. 

Michelle Lewis, Health Promotion and Planning Coordinator at SDHD, said that winter is a great time for outdoor recreation. “You don't have to sit on your couch,” Lewis said. “You can get active and have fun in the winter months.”   

The inaugural Cone Park Winterfest took place on February 23, 2020, bringing together more than 600 community members to get active and learn about the Move Your Way campaign. To help boost attendance, SDHD built the Winterfest around an annual homemade cardboard sled race hosted by the Port of Sioux City River-Cade Association and the Sioux City Noon Sertoma Club.   

SDHD partnered with vendors like the local YMCA to offer a range of winter-themed activities, including a tubing hill and a snowman-making relay race. And Sioux City’s hockey team, the Sioux City Musketeers, stopped by to mingle with attendees.     

Spreading the Word to Help People Get Active 

Lewis said that reaching out to local media was key to a successful launch. About a month before the Winterfest, SDHD sent out a press release to generate interest from local news outlets — which led to 2 live TV interviews about the upcoming event. A second press release just before the event helped motivate local TV stations to come out and cover the festivities.   

During the event, SDHD used Move Your Way posters and fact sheets to spread the word about the benefits of physical activity. Lewis said these benefits are especially important for the large proportion of Siouxlanders living with health conditions like obesity or diabetes. “The Move Your Way campaign materials are so fun and user friendly,” Lewis said. “We hope they’ll be the motivating factor to help people be more physically active in our community.”   

Looking Ahead to a Healthier Future 

The launch event was only the beginning of Sioux City’s community campaign. SDHD collected feedback from Winterfest attendees to help improve upcoming campaign events and ongoing physical activity initiatives.   

And with help from their strong coalition of partners, SDHD hopes to keep the Move Your Way momentum going throughout the year. “This event allowed us to lay the groundwork,” Lewis says. “So, people may be more motivated to get out there and be physically active in the future.”

Trying New Moves Together in Jackson 

In 2019, Jackson launched its campaign with a Move Your Way Try-a-Thon at the Jackson Medical Mall, an indoor space popular with mall walkers. Local radio personalities broadcast live from the event, which featured group physical activities ranging from Zumba and hip-hop aerobics to active games like Duck, Duck, Goose.   

Tiffani Grant, from the Office of Preventive Health at the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH), said they focused on fun, inclusive activities to encourage a range of demographics to attend. “So you come to check it out, and then you see people doing some line dancing or some circuit training — and maybe you stay and give it a try.” Other activities included blood pressure checks for adults and face painting for kids.   

Grant was thrilled to see people trying new activities and encouraging each other to make the effort. “One participant over age 100 was telling others, ‘Come on, get moving!’ At first people might think an activity is too hard, but the point is to move the way that works for you — and to have fun with it.”   

Working With Partners to Share a Unified Message 

MSDH used their campaign and launch planning as an opportunity to expand their local coalition. “We’re working with new partners we would not have found without the campaign planning process,” Grant said. “And those partnerships are ongoing — we continue to meet regularly and generate new ideas for physical activity promotion in our communities.”   

MSDH, along with their partners, were able to promote a shared message.    

“People have this mindset that activity doesn’t count unless you’re at a fitness center,” Grant said. “But the Move Your Way materials help spread the word that everything counts. If you have limited mobility and you walk outside to your mailbox, that’s movement! It helps people see the significance of every effort.”

Pairing Move Your Way with a Community Walking Challenge 

Cabarrus Health Alliance is a founding member of Walk Cabarrus — an initiative that aims to help residents of Cabarrus County, North Carolina get active by walking more.   

In 2020, Walk Cabarrus set an ambitious goal for their year-long community walking challenge: 1 billion steps. The Walk Cabarrus organizers knew that to reach this goal, they would need to engage all members of the community — even people who hadn’t been active before. And to achieve that level of engagement, they paired up with Move Your Way.   

“Move Your Way is the perfect complement to our walking challenge,” said Lisa Perry, community health partner for Walk Cabarrus. “The Move Your Way messages explain to prospective participants why physical activity is important, and how every little bit counts. And then the walking challenge provides an easy way to get started.”   

Staying Connected — One Step at a Time 

Walk Cabarrus invited residents to walk, log their steps online, and work together to reach the launch-day goal of 5 million steps. They also set up a Facebook group where Cabarrus residents could connect with their friends and neighbors. By the April launch, more than 400 people had registered online to participate in the community walking challenge — and by August, participation was up to 1,800 people.   

The campaign website encouraged participation by displaying a step-count leader board and featuring step leaders in a “Walker Spotlight.” The step leader on launch day (with over 1 million steps!) was a local UPS delivery worker, illustrating a key Move Your Way message: you can multitask while you’re getting physical activity.   

All this friendly competition helped encourage Cabarrus residents to keep putting one foot in front of the other — both to make it onto the leader board, and to help reach the community step goals. “A collective challenge really motivated people,” Perry says. It also helped foster a sense of teamwork and community.   

Generating Excitement with Giveaways 

Walk Cabarrus organizers designated neighborhood captains to distribute “swag packs” to residents’ mailboxes. Local captains in 12 neighborhoods distributed a total of 2,400 packs filled with branded magnets and materials from Move Your Way and Walk Cabarrus.   

During the launch event, Walk Cabarrus held live giveaways on Facebook and Instagram. Participants could win Walk Cabarrus merchandise — like bandanas and phone wallets — by posting selfies showing how they get active or watching Move Your Way campaign videos and commenting with their own activity tips. People also shared screenshots of their walking routes on their map apps, serving as further inspiration for their neighbors.   

After the event, Perry hosted a recap of the launch in the style of John Krasinski’s popular “Some Good News” online videos. She used this playful style to share Cabarrus County’s own good news — that the community was staying connected and getting more active through walking. Community members logged almost 4.5 million steps on launch day, and the overall count was nearly 500 million (plus 12 million pet steps!) by early August of 2020.   

Perry reported that the community really enjoyed keeping track of their steps and sharing their successes. She expected the community would feel the impact of Walk Cabarrus and Move Your Way in their lives long after the campaign ended. As one local resident told her: “This was the motivation I needed to get out and get moving.” 

Hitting the Ground Running in Southern Nevada 

Nicole Bungum and Mindy Meacham, with the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD), worked with the Partners for a Healthy Nevada coalition to coordinate a Move Your Way 5K and Family Fun Walk at Craig Ranch Regional Park. “We used the launch to raise awareness about the wonderful trail system and other outdoor amenities we have here in Southern Nevada,” Bungum said.   

Despite unseasonably cold weather, more than 300 people participated in the 2019 event. Athletes and representatives from the Las Vegas Aces WNBA team led group warmups from a mainstage and vendors offered fun activities like a Move Your Way selfie station for participants.   

A paved course made the event wheelchair and stroller accessible, and Meacham and Bungum were pleased to see a wide range of ages and lots of families participating together. “We heard people saying, ‘Wow, what a great park! I’ve never been here before,’” Bungum said. “So now they’ve found a new place to get active as a family.”   

Promoting Campaign Resources 

SNDH distributed a wide range of Move Your Way materials throughout their campaign. “The Move Your Way icon and messages are easy to remember and relate to,” Meacham said. “And because the resources target different age ranges and are available in Spanish and English, we can use them to reach lots of different populations in our community.”   

SNHD has seen positive responses to materials that address common barriers to physical activity. “For example, the parent materials don’t just state the guidelines for kids,” Bungum said. “They offer ways for kids to get active when they can’t go outside or participate in organized sports.”   

Leveraging a Coalition of Partners 

Meacham said that the campaign helped SNHD reach a larger audience. “We’re a pretty small team and we don’t usually plan such big events. So, this was a unique opportunity for us to bring the community together.”   

It also led to a higher level of collaboration with existing partners. “We were lucky to have an existing coalition to lean on for planning and promotion,” Bungum says. “And we found that the process of working together on such a large event really strengthened those relationships.”

Leaning on Partners to Build Capacity 

In spring 2020, the team behind the Healthy Places program at Columbus Public Health leaned on new and existing partnerships to get the word out about their Move Your Way community campaign.

Scott Ulrich, program director for Healthy Places, said they also found unexpected opportunities for collaborations. For example, they worked with Transit Columbus, a public transportation advocacy organization, to promote a pledge called “Walk Columbus” encouraging people to take daily walks.   

Ulrich noted that the Move Your Way Community Playbook was key to their success. By sharing playbook resources with partners, they were able to keep everyone on the same page. For example, the Campaign Talking Points helped partners get up to speed quickly on Move Your Way and the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.   

According to Ulrich, the playbook was a useful resource to share with partners. “In that sense it was really helpful to have everything you need to know right here in this playbook.”   

Going Digital for Greater Reach 

Healthy Places launched their community campaign in a virtual format. They partnered with the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) to incorporate Move Your Way messaging into MORPC’s People Who Bike campaign. MORPC encouraged people to post about their bike rides on social media using the hashtags #PeopleWhoBike and #MoveYourWay.   

Healthy Places also worked with MORPC on a People Who Bike digital passport where people could record their bike rides — like biking on a Central Ohio Greenways Trail. People who completed at least 3 rides could submit their passports to MORPC for a chance to win prizes, including bike gear.

Leveraging Events and Giveaways 

In addition to online outreach, Healthy Places found ways to promote the campaign through partner events and giveaways. “We were trying to find out where people were going to be and trying to make sure Move Your Way was there in some way,” said Ulrich. “Whether it was through materials or messaging.” 

For example, when neighborhood-based coalitions distributed free bikes and bike helmets to local kids, they seized that opportunity to distribute Move Your Way materials.

Healthy Places also teamed up with a local infant mortality initiative called CelebrateOne. On Wednesday evenings, CelebrateOne distributed Move Your Way materials at their small stroller socials for pregnant and postpartum people. And at virtual events in the summer, CelebrateOne included Move Your Way messaging in their social media posts.

Harnessing Lessons Learned for the Future

Ulrich emphasized that the Move Your Way campaign helped Healthy Places distill their physical activity messaging down to the most important points. This type of streamlined messaging was especially important when both health communicators and their audiences had limited bandwidth.

Ulrich added that Healthy Places will be able to look back on their experiences in 2020 to help inform their future strategy.

“It was a very valuable learning experience,” Ulrich said. “It really made us diversify what we do, who we partner with, and how we think about our programs."

Promoting Physical Activity at Home

Each May, the Chicago Park District (CPD) hosts Chicago Moves Day — a weekday event that offers free workouts at Maggie Daley Park and connects Chicago residents to fitness and wellness opportunities across the city.

In 2020, CPD reimagined their launch event as a virtual experience. They partnered with local instructors to record a series of 9 physical activity videos and invited Chicagoans to visit their website on May 6 to follow along with the virtual classes.  

The series included everything from classics like yoga and Zumba to a specialized dry land workout for swimmers who couldn’t access their regular pools.  

Videos demonstrating a chair exercise class and a kids’ workout ensured that people of all ages and abilities could participate.

Growing Reach by Going Virtual

Instructors filmed the Chicago Moves Day videos in their own homes, with minimal equipment and limited space. Rather than a limitation, CPD saw these filming conditions as an asset — a chance to show the Chicago community how to keep moving, without ever leaving home.   

Colleen Lammel-Harmon, CPD Health & Wellness Senior Project Manager, said the pivot to an online event made it possible for a wider range of Chicagoans to participate. “The community loved the virtual classes,” she said. “People commented that it’s so much easier to do it in their home.” 

Lammel-Harmon pointed out that an online format removes barriers related to both motivation and transportation. She said that a lot of people who wouldn’t have been able or willing to go downtown for in-person programming found it easier to participate online.   

 Leveraging Partnerships to Get the Word Out   

CPD relied on strong strategic partnerships to spread the word about their local Move Your Way campaign. Chicago Public Libraries promoted the event on their website, and Chicago Public Schools encouraged gym teachers to integrate the kids’ workout video into remote physical education classes. 

Their partnership with the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) was particularly successful, according to Lammel-Harmon. CDPH sent information about Chicago Moves Day to all CDPH city partners, and encouraged them to post about the event using the #ChicagoMovesDay and #MoveYourWayChicago hashtags. CDPH Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady also publicized the launch event through her public health video briefings, which got more than 400 viewers daily.  

Viewers really connected with Arwady’s discussion about the importance of physical activity, according to Lammel-Harmon. “I think that brought credibility and visibility to Move Your Way and the physical activity recommendations,” Lammel-Harmon said. “That support really made a difference.”   

Chicago Moves Day ultimately garnered almost 1,500 page views on CPD’s website, and the video series got nearly 1,400 views on CPD’s YouTube channel. These numbers point to an increase in participation over the previous year’s in-person event, which drew around 1,000 attendees. 

Looking Ahead to an Active Future for Chicago   

CPD’s launch was so successful that they’re planning more virtual events in the future. Going online helped them reach a larger audience — and discover creative new ways to get the community moving.   

Lammel-Harmon said this launch experience will have a lasting effect on CPD’s approach to physical activity programming. “Everyone came together to make May 6 the catalyst for a virtual platform within the Chicago Park District — as well as a great event for all of our patrons city wide.”

Striding Toward an Active Future 

In summer 2020, Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) started offering online versions of their popular Healthy Strides community fitness classes through a videoconferencing platform — allowing people to try activities from yoga to cardio to tai chi, all from the comfort of their homes.   

Liz Ittner, wellness coordinator at FCPA, said the virtual classes were a big success. FCPA recorded about 3,900 class attendees during the campaign, and averaged about 30 people per class.   

Some virtual attendees were veterans of FCPA’s in-person fitness classes, but Ittner said she was pleased to see at least a couple new participants in each virtual class. “That tells me we’re reaching a handful of people every day who maybe weren’t considering coming to our sites before,” she said.    

Keeping Move Your Way Front and Center 

FCPA’s Healthy Strides instructors found creative ways to incorporate Move Your Way into the class experience. Instructors who streamed classes from local rec centers displayed a Move Your Way banner in the background, while those who streamed from home wore Move Your Way branded t-shirts.   

Instructors also began each class session by talking about Move Your Way. Ittner said that while they used a standard campaign message at first, many instructors eventually branched out and took a more personal approach to campaign messaging. For example, one instructor offered a “tip of the day” to share creative ways to reach the recommended 150 minutes of activity a week — like using household items as weights.   

“It’s been cool to hear that evolution with the instructors — their own spin that they’re putting on the Move Your Way information,” she said.   

Promoting Walking Programs 

As the new school year began, FCPA partnered with Fairfax County Public Schools’ Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program on Walking Wednesdays. This program encourages kids and parents to walk around the block before the school day starts — even when kids are learning remotely.   

Ittner explained that Walking Wednesdays help kids and families fit a bit more activity into their busy days — which aligns perfectly with the goals of Move Your Way.   

Moving forward, FCPA plans on putting signs with Move Your Way messaging on popular park trails and playgrounds throughout the community. The signs would share key information about the health benefits and recommended amounts of physical activity for adults and kids. This way, FCPA can continue to reach community members wherever they go to get active.   

Staying Nimble in the Face of Uncertainty 

For FCPA, a key takeaway from running a physical activity campaign was the importance of flexibility. Ittner pointed out that circumstances can change at the drop of a hat. So her advice for other community organizations is to learn to adapt on the fly.   

“Try not to get your heart set on one pathway,” she says. “Navigating this ever-changing world of technology and virtual platforms, you have to be willing to change your game plan on a dime to fit your circumstances and the audiences you’re trying to reach.”

Working Together to Promote Activity   

Live Well Streator — a community collaborative supported by OSF HealthCare — launched their Move Your Way community campaign on March 11, 2020. They kicked things off with an indoor event at the Streator Incubator, a downtown business incubator and community center in Streator, Illinois.   

The free event drew about 60 attendees and featured live fitness demonstrations, including a stretching session and a SilverSneakers workout for older adults. And to show attendees an easy way to get their hearts pumping, organizers encouraged people to walk briskly around the perimeter of the event space.   

Ellen Vogel, Community Health Engagement Program Manager at OSF HealthCare, said the event was a true team effort, with volunteers, businesses, and schools coming together to make it a reality. “Getting a variety of people in your community working together toward a common goal is key to a successful event,” Vogel said.   

Leveraging Social Media for Broader Engagement 

 To get the word out about their community campaign, Live Well Streator invited local businesses and schools to share how their employees and students get active. People posted photos and videos on social media with the hashtag #MoveYourWayStreator.   

Ten local businesses and all 6 local schools participated, and the entries showed a wide range of creative activity options — from group wall-sits to Irish step dancing.   

To boost engagement, they made it a competition: the business that got the most likes on their post won lunch for up to 20 people from a local restaurant, and the school with the most likes won $250 for their parent-teacher organization.  

Vogel said the online competition, along with the live launch event, really energized the Streator community around physical activity. “From the people who always wanted to try a SilverSneakers class to the social media frenzy created by schools and businesses, everyone felt the excitement,” she said.   

Creating a Healthier Community Through Campaign Resources 

Going forward, Vogel hopes the Move Your Way campaign will help Live Well Streator achieve a key community health goal — to increase the proportion of Streator residents who are at a healthy weight.   

Vogel said Move Your Way resources are an effective way to educate people about the health benefits of physical activity. She noted that while the recommendation for adults to get 150 minutes of physical activity every week can be daunting for some people, Move Your Way shows that this goal is achievable.   

“Move Your Way explains that things like vacuuming, gardening, and dancing all count as activity,” she said. “This campaign shows how easy it really is for someone to start on their path toward a healthier lifestyle.”

Building on Community Interests

When Areiona King, Safe Routes to School coordinator for BikeWalkKC, noticed a renewed community interest in biking and walking in spring 2020, she saw an opportunity to build on the growing enthusiasm for outdoor physical activity.

BikeWalkKC worked with Nurture KC to give away bicycle helmets to kids in the community during National Bike Month in May — and offered an educational video to help families make sure helmets fit kids properly.

They also created a series of educational videos about walking and biking safely. Each video opened with a BikeWalkKC instructor standing in front of a pop-up Move Your Way poster in a park or other public space. The videos shared key campaign messages, like how much activity kids need each day, and offered activity ideas and safety tips.   

Growing Connections with Social Media   

BikeWalkKC came up with innovative ways to use social media to get people moving. They created a fun, engaging series of physical activity bingo boards that they shared on social media and through partners. King said they wanted to remind people that getting active can be as simple as you want it to be. To that end, the bingo boards highlighted everyday activities, like walking to the mailbox.

And their efforts paid off. By the end of the campaign, the BikeWalkKC team says they increased the number of likes on their Walk WYCO Facebook page by about 30 percent.   

Leveraging Partnerships for Wider Reach   

BikeWalkKC created a robust partnership network by strengthening old relationships and developing new ones. In total, 15 partners supported their Move Your Way campaign efforts.   

To make it easier for partners to share Move Your Way messaging, BikeWalkKC created prewritten social media messages for partners to post on their channels. This helped them reach more people and keep partners engaged.    

And to recognize and encourage partner efforts, BikeWalkKC conducted video interviews with partner organizations and shared them on social media.   

During their campaign, BikeWalkKC collaborated with parters in many different ways.    

For example, BikeWalkKC participated in a workgroup to develop the Kansas City Physical Activity (KCPA) Plan. Laura Steele, director of education at BikeWalkKC, said their Move Your Way campaign experiences helped inform potential physical activity promotion strategies in the KCPA Plan.    

They also worked with the Mid-America Regional Council to promote National Walk to School Day in October.   

King and Steele agreed that the key to developing successful partnerships is staying flexible. “Be open to variety when it comes to what partnerships can look like,” said King.

Starting Virtual Run Clubs 

Active Southern West Virginia (Active SWV) initially planned to expand their successful Kids Run Club — a 6-to-8-week after-school running program for local kids. But in 2020, when the rapid spread of illness in the community prevented coming together in person, Active SWV created a Virtual Kids Run Club alternative to help kids stay active. “The goal was to provide kids with resources and encourage them to still be active for 60 minutes a day,” says Melanie Seiler, executive director of Active SWV.    

They invited kids to log their activity each week through an online app. And to foster a sense of community, Active SWV grouped kids in virtual teams with their schoolmates and helped their families stay connected through Facebook.   

Getting Kids Excited with Obstacle Courses 

Active SWV found a creative way to bring their programming to a new audience: outdoor obstacle courses at local food distribution sites.   

Seiler said these courses gave kids a “sampler” of the Kids Run Club core components: a dynamic warm-up, a main running activity, and a cool-down with stretching. Yard signs with graphics guided kids through the activity stations, and hula hoops placed on the ground helped organize kids within the course.   

Active SWV successfully piloted the obstacle courses over the summer, and then they expanded the program by creating and distributing obstacle course kits to partners. Seiler said that it had been difficult recruiting volunteers to coach run clubs, and that this kit model helped them reach more kids with limited staff.   

Partnering with Libraries for Greater Reach 

Active SWV also reached out to local libraries to meet kids where they are. For example, they provided an obstacle course kit to the bookmobile program at Summers County Public Library in Hinton, West Virginia. That way, when kids went to access books and free Wi-Fi, they could also get their daily dose of physical activity.   

Seiler said they also planned to partner with libraries across the state for a 6-week movement challenge. Libraries could participate by displaying campaign materials, posting on social media, and encouraging patrons to get active and track their progress through a free online platform. Library teams could then compete to log the most activity within 6 weeks.   

“Libraries are really strong partners because they’re viewed as a reliable source of media,” Seiler said.   

Looking Ahead to More Virtual Opportunities 

Seiler said that Active SWV will keep offering virtual programs in the future. “The community has gotten more accustomed to looking online for information,” she says.   

Active SWV leaned into online outreach by creating Facebook groups for specific activities and highlighting volunteers and participants on the Active SWV blog and in Facebook posts. They also created online resources to help people establish an at-home workout routine — something Seiler thinks will be especially important during the winter months.   

“We’ll keep offering virtual options regardless of in-person capacity,” she said. There are lots of things that can keep people stuck at home, from weather, to illness, to lack of transportation. Now, Active SWV has the tools now to meet people where they are.