County Mayor Claude Ramsey of Hamilton County, is among five national leaders who received the first-ever Leadership for Healthy Communities Healthy Community Leadership Award. The award recognizes outstanding elected and appointed officials representing schools and communities who have implemented innovative policies that can help prevent childhood obesity.

Leadership for Healthy Communities—a $10 million national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that supports state and local policy-makers in their efforts to reduce childhood obesity through policies that promote active living and healthy eating— recognized Mayor Ramsey during an awards dinner on the first evening of its second biennial Childhood Obesity Prevention Summit.

The summit was held on May 7-8, 2009 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington.

“Our goal is to change the health culture of Hamilton County,” said Mayor Ramsey. “Through programs and policy change we want to encourage our residents to eat smart and maintain active lifestyles.”

Among its many accomplishments, Mayor Ramsey’s office has developed a master plan that supports walkable commercial development, neighborhood schools and parks, and a variety of transportation choices; created a plan to develop multi-use trails that connect neighborhoods to natural resources and to each other; implemented and helped to secure more than $344,000 in state funds for a Safe Routes to School program; dedicated more than $2 million in stimulus funds for greenways, sidewalk improvements, bicycle facilities, streetscaping projects, trails, bikeways and public transportation enhancements; partnered with 40 restaurants to promote healthy menu selections and reasonable portion sizes; and worked with DC and Marvel Comics artist Bob McLeod to create “Eat Smart” and “Just Move It” cartoon characters that promote nutritious foods and healthy lifestyles to children.

More than 130 policy-makers from the state, local and school district level joined federal legislators and childhood obesity policy experts as participants in this year’s summit. The summit is designed to help policy leaders advance healthy eating and active living options in their communities.

Special emphasis was placed on collaborative policy approaches that address childhood obesity among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the epidemic.

Chosen from more than 40 nominees representing states, localities and school districts, other award winners included: Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City; Gavin Newsom, mayor of San Francisco; Roel Gonzalez, superintendent of the Rio Grande City, Texas, Consolidated Independent School District; and Darwin Hindman, mayor of Columbia, Mo.

“Mayor Claude Ramsey is very deserving of this recognition,” said Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, Ph.D., director of Leadership for Healthy Communities. “His willingness to leverage policy to encourage healthy eating and active lifestyles has helped to place Hamilton County at the forefront of healthy American communities.”