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Goal to bring wider cross section of community together to work on quality of life issues

Gardiner, Maine -- Getting Healthy and Southern Kennebec Healthy Communities – both nonprofit organizations located in Gardiner -- have joined forces. The two organizations will continue the same work under a new name, Healthy Communities of the Capital Area.

Getting Healthy is the local Healthy Maine Partnership, funded through Maine’s tobacco settlement and dedicated to improving physical activity and nutrition and limiting tobacco exposure. Southern Kennebec Healthy Communities is a volunteer-based healthy community coalition devoted to bringing community members together to assess and address quality of life issues at the local level. Healthy Communities of the Capital Area merges the two and will continue to serve the same "community clusters" in the capital area as when it was two separate organizations.

"Our goal is for Healthy Communities of the Capital Area to bring a wider cross section of the community together to work on a spectrum of quality of life issues," says David Pied, board chair. “We know that improving opportunities for physical activity, increasing good nutrition and preventing tobacco use are core quality of life issues, but we want to be able to respond to other community identified issues as they arise – substance abuse prevention and opportunities for example.”

Sarah Shed, director of Southern Kennebec Healthy Communities is excited about the change. “We have always worked closely together and our missions are synergistic," she says. "And it became clear that having a single name would identify us to the community in a more compelling and less confusing way.”

The new name, logo and tagline were developed – with the help of Shoestring Creative Group –through a carefully managed process that focused on the mission of the organization and its goals for the future.

The announcement of the new name comes at a time when there is a lot of discussion across the state about ways to strengthen the capacity of community coalitions to participate in expanded public health roles, explains Joanne Joy, Healthy Maine Partnership director .“This integration allows us to build a more comprehensive coalition, she says. "We will be able to assume a greater role in public health functions as they develop, and we will be in a better position to attract more grant resources.”

To learn more about the logo, go to http://www.shoestringgroup.com/healthycommunities/index.htm.

Contact info:
36 Brunswick Ave Gardiner, Maine 04345 http://www.healthycommunitiesme.org/ 207-582-8011 Contact: Hannah Gregory, 207/582-1345, hannah@shoestringgroup.com

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