Neighborhood Notes

What

Noelle Dobson and Amy Gilroy of Community Health Partnership will address the Portland Downtown Neighborhood Association (PDNA) at its next general meeting as part of the associations' guest speaker series. Dobson and Gilroy both have backgrounds in Public Health.

Join the PDNA in this rare opportunity to learn about active living by design. Dobson and Gilroy will present the Lents case study and provide background information and empirical evidence that suggest a connection between the build environment, physical activity and healthy eating.

When
Monday, Nov 17, 2008
7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Where
Loaves and Fishes
Elm Court Center
1032 SW Main
Portland, OR 97205

Noelle Dobson is Project Director for Community Health Partnership's Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Initiative. Her work with HEAL partners focuses on the connection between the built environment and physical activity and healthy eating. This initiative brings together a diverse group of partners representing land use and transportation planning, urban design, health care services, natural resources protection, local and state decision makers, and numerous community organizations. Ms. Dobson received her Masters in Public Health from Portland State University's School of Community Health, with a focus on Advocacy and Social Change. Prior to her work with Community Health Partnership she coordinated a community-based research project to assess environmental health hazards for low-income residents in North Portland. Ms. Dobson is also a founding board member of Upstream Public Health and has served on the board for five years.

Amy Gilroy is Project Manager for Community Health Partnership's Healthy Active Lents Initiative. Her work focuses primarily on building collaborations with diverse partners in the Lents neighborhood in Southeast Portland. Ms. Gilroy promotes healthy eating and active living (HEAL) in Lents by supporting community organizations and public and private partnerships that aim to provide HEAL opportunities to the Lents community. Ms. Gilroy earned her Masters in Public Health from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska with a focus on urban planning and community health. Prior to joining the staff at Community Health Partnership, she conducted a county food assessment for the Clark County, Washington Food System Council and has worked on numerous initiatives intersecting the built environment and community health before relocating to Portland, Oregon.

Established in 1999, Community Health Partnership - formerly known as Friends of Public Health - began with three programs to support public health: Special Needs Grant s, the Laurence R. Foster Memorial Scholarships and annual Public Health Genius Awards. These programs were established to:

• assist public health workers in meeting urgent client needs,
• develop Oregon's public health workforce, and
• recognize public health leadership, innovation and excellence.

Community Health Partnership (CHP) is an independent, not-for-profit organization committed to improving the health of Oregonians through advocacy and support of effective public health policy and activities.