Working Together to Create a Healthier Leeward Coast
As our communities continue to grow, it is important to educate our families on the importance of living a well-rounded lifestyle, which is why I am excited to share with you the Blue Zones Project – an initiative we are coordinating with community stakeholders, to create healthy changes throughout our Leeward Coast.
The Blue Zones Project is a community-wide well-being improvement initiative designed to bring healthy lifestyle choices to our community through permanent changes in environmental, health and food policy. Together these would transform our state into an even better place to live, work and play by helping residents make long-term changes in their diets, habits, and everyday lifestyle.
As part of our shared commitment to improve the well-being of the state of Hawaii, we are working with the Blue Zones team to secure a “Blue Zone” in Kapolei, Makakilo & the Ewa area.
To start, we hosted a meeting at Island Pacific Academy to inform residents, community leaders, and volunteers about how we can get people, places, and policy in our City engaged and informed about this exciting movement.
This initial meeting was a success, and with widespread support, I am proud to announce that the Phase 1 application to have Kapolei and Ewa designated as Blue Zones Project areas was recently accepted. The Blue Zones Project is now moving on to Phase 2 of their initiative, which involves a comprehensive site visit of the Kapolei, Makakilo and Ewa Beach Area. The community will know in October if we are selected as a Blue Zones Project area.
We will need to continue community outreach and demonstrate widespread support in this next phase. To spread the word and educate our residents about this upcoming process, my office will be hosting a community presentation for the Blue Zones Site Selection Committee on Monday, September 26, 2016 at Kapolei High School, taking place at 6:00 p.m. All residents, ohana and keiki are encouraged to attend and get involved in this project that is happening on our Leeward Coast.
For more information, feel free to reach Councilmember Pine at kmpine@honolulu.gov or visit www.CouncilmemberPine.com.
