Playing Smart changelabsolutions.org | kaboom.org 7 Nearly a third of American children and adolescents3 – and two-thirds of American adults4 – are overweight or obese. Over the past few decades, obesity rates have soared for all age groups, doubling among preschoolers and more than quadrupling among children ages 6 to 11.5 Chapter 1 The Relationship Between Joint Use Agreements and Physical Activity To counter rising rates of obesity and related diseases, Americans are urged to eat healthier foods and lead more active lives. For many, however, it’s difficult to follow this advice where they live. Walking and bicycling are dangerous on roads designed for cars driving at high speeds. Schools and shopping districts are too far from homes for children and their families to reach on foot. Parks, playgrounds, and other outdoor recreation areas are often remote, inaccessible, or poorly maintained – if they exist at all. For too many communities, these factors combine to make healthy choices all but impossible. Addressing Inequity in Opportunities for Physical Activity Barriers to recreational opportunities are particularly pronounced in lower-income neighborhoods. Health challenges, and in particular the risk of overweight and obesity, do not affect all of us equally. Disparities in overweight and obesity prevalence exist in many segments of the population, based on race and ethnicity, gender, age, and socioeconomic status.6 The very same communities that are at greater risk for overweight and obesity have far fewer parks and open spaces. A national study of 20,000 young people in the United States found that resources for physical activity – including public parks and recreation facilities, as well as private facilities – were distributed inequitably, with non-white and lower-income neighborhoods twice as likely as higher-income white neighborhoods to lack even one facility for physical activity.7 Communities with higher poverty rates and higher percentages of African-American residents have significantly fewer parks and green spaces.8 In addition, substantial research supports the commonsense contention that young people, particularly adolescents, who do not have safe places for participating in positive activities during after-school hours are more likely to engage in potentially dangerous activities such as drug use, risky sexual behaviors, and gang involvement. Access to safe recreational facilities is one critical element to solving this problem. Indeed, parents rank safety as the number one factor in deciding whether and where their children can play.9 Because children are more likely to be physically active when they’re outside,10 outdoor safety is important.11 A lack of safety outdoors is a
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