LET’S BE
LET’S BE
HEALTHIER
SMARTER
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In response to the rising health crisis, Get Outdoors Houston! will be a communication hub for healthcare practitioners, community groups, schools, environmental educators, and the people in our city who need our help. The GO Houston! network of partners will convene and act to create real solutions for the residents of our city.
Teachers are under intense pressure to raise student achievement and have little time to build outdoor education into their class activities. However, evidence shows that students who learn outdoors have a deeper understanding of content, are more motivated to learn, and have higher levels of achievement, even on high-stakes tests. Teachers need our help to integrate outdoor learning in their everyday classroom activities. GO Houston! will create:
GO Houston! will create: • Pilot obesity-intervention school programs that engage children and families in outdoor activity and learning. • Scientific research briefs and policy recommendations on the benefits of time spent outdoors. • Initiatives for creating safe green spaces for outdoor activity. • Programming for schools, workplaces, and the community to engage in active outdoor living.
Let’s be the difference.
• An Online Curriculum Clearinghouse that can be quickly searched for lessons and inspiring ideas. • A training institute for teachers with hands-on naturalist mentoring support in the classroom. • A mobile Get Outdoors Houston! bus that will engage target neighborhoods in health literacy and “nearby nature” opportunities. • An annual summit to educate and build capacity across the region in the Get Outdoors Houston! movement.
INITIATIVE
GET OUTDOORS
TIMELINE 2013
2014
HOUSTON! 2015
marketing campaign Website Development Online Curriculum Clearinghouse School Obesity Interventions Capacity-building Summit Teacher Training Institute Research + Policy Communication Mobile Community Bus Safe Green Space Initiatives Mobile Apps
NETWORK PARTNERS
Let’s teach locally. A COLLABORATIVE INITIATIVE CONNECTING THE OUTDOORS TO RECREATION, LEARNING, AND HEALTH.
LET’S BE
Happier, Healthier, and Smarter!
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ABOUT THE GO HOUSTON! NETWORK luna moth
The Get Outdoors Houston! campaign (GO Houston!) is a network of partners working together to get more people outside to enjoy the many exciting outdoor opportunities in the Houston-Gulf Coast Region. The network will work in collaborative teams to grow the movement across sectors such as businesses, healthcare providers, green groups, urban planners, educators, community groups, and faith-based organizations.
WHAT’S AT STAKE
LET’S BE HAPPIER
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Research shows that people who spend time outdoors are healthier, happier, and even smarter! Today our society is more sedentary, more urban, and more disconnected from the outdoors than any generation in history. Consider this: • Children currently spend an average of 7.5 hours a day, over 50 hours per week, connected to electronic media. (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010) • 800,000 Houstonians are obese and an additional 1 million are clinically overweight. (Center for Disease Control, 2009) • By 2035, our population density in Houston-Gulf Coast region is projected to double. (Houston Tomorrow)
Do most people think of Houston as an outdoor wonderland? Likely not, but it is! Houston has 10 distinct eco-regions that offer the largest variety of outdoor experiences in North America. GO HOUSTON! will showcase Houston as an outdoor destination both locally and nationwide, including: ‣ A marketing campaign to tell the story ‣ A Website to showcase our green spaces and regional events ‣ Mobile apps to help people find nature and outdoor experiences ‣ Grassroots public relations initiatives to mobilize the masses
Let’s change perceptions about Southeast Texas.
• If current health trends continue, nearly 90% of all U.S. Adults will be overweight or obese by the year 2030. The healthcare costs associated with these conditions will top nearly $1 trillion (Wong, Y. et al., 2008)
We can reverse this trend. roseate spoonbill