Shape Up Somerville

Shape Up Somerville (SUS) is a city wide campaign to increase daily physical activity and healthy eating through programming, physical infrastructure improvements, and policy work. The program began as a community based research study (funded by the CDC) at Tufts University targeting 1st through 3rd graders in the Somerville Public Schools. Today, there is a Coordinator working on active and healthy living programs supported by the Health Department and a Taskforce that is a collaboration of over 11 initiatives and 25 stakeholders. The program includes interventions in school food service, an in-school curriculum, after school programming, and Safe Routes to School. Shape Up Somerville conducts community outreach, encourages walkability and the extension of community paths, and promotes farmers markets and community/school gardens. The campaign targets all segments of the community, including schools, city government, civic organizations, community groups, businesses, and other people who live, work, and play in Somerville.

The goal of Shape Up Somerville is to prevent obesity through a community-based environmental change intervention.

Through multi-level social interventions (community, school, family) intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and screen time can decrease among children.

Shape Up Somerville has successfully engaged the community in promoting a healthy lifestyle through physical activity and healthy eating. SUS created and distributed over 8,000 copies of the Somerville Walking Map and added this map to the city website. Over 50 bike racks were installed throughout the city. Shape Up Somerville worked with 21 restaurants across the city to enhance food options for people and families who eat out. The program maintained a consistent presence in the local media, reaching over 20,000 community members through a monthly newspaper column and 353 community partners through 6 newsletters. A non-randomized controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. In the intervention community, Shape Up Somerville reduced approximately one pound of weight gain over eight months for an eight-year-old child. This significant outcome was compared with children in the control communities after controlling for baseline covariates. In addition, over 90 school teachers were trained to implement a classroom-based health curriculum and all 14 after-school programs in Somerville utilized a modified version of this curriculum. More than 50 local clinicians and school nurses were trained on a new toolkit designed to assess and address overweight in children. The school department committed to making improvements in the areas of nutrition, physical activity, and nutrition education and have created new policies in each of these areas and a comprehensive Wellness Policy.