Several national and governmental organizations recommend increasing community use as a strategy to increase opportunities for physical activity.14,15, 16
In Massachusetts, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School, the American Heart Association, and the Massachusetts Alliance of YMCAs partnered to research current community use practices and to provide training and technical assistance to Massachusetts communities interested in engaging in shared use. As part of this work, the group sought to understand how community use practices, facilitators, and barriers differ among districts with high levels of shared use (high-use) vs. districts with low levels of shared use (low-use). The group conducted online surveys about community use practices with school districts administrators, followed by telephone interviews with administrators in high-use and low-use districts. This report shares key findings and recommendations.
