Live Well Kingston is a city-endorsed coalition of organizations, businesses and individuals that work together to improve the environment, culture, and opportunities in Kingston, NY for residents to lead healthier lives. Live Well Kingston is championed by the City of Kingston as part of the Mayor’s Wellness Initiative.
Vision
Live Well Kingston envisions a community environment that promotes and supports healthier lifestyle choices.
Mission
Live Well Kingston brings partners and residents together to facilitate policy, environmental, and systems changes that result in a healthy and active community.
The Live Well Kingston coalition
· Serves as a resource for education and a catalyst for decisions that foster healthy attitudes
· Acts as a catalyst of programming, policy, systems and environmental change
· Improves access to healthy, affordable, local food for children and families
· Improves access to parks for active play through environmental changes and programming
· Improves access to a safe and enjoyable walking and bicycling environment
· Creates synergies among organizations to provide healthy eating and physical activity programming for families and children using Kingston’s assets
· Creates alignment among the efforts of several organizations and groups
By coming together as one network working in alignment toward a common goal, Live Well Kingston members are able to:
· Define a common agenda
· Build knowledge and alignment through shared measurement and regular meetings
· Work more efficiently with mutually reinforcing activities
· Build alliances and partnerships to attract shared funding sources from government, foundations, and businesses
· Improve multiple health indicators simultaneously
A Little History
In 2012, the Healthy Kingston for Kids (HKK) partnership began to strategize for how we would sustain the momentum we’ve started through the HKK initiative. Since the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation project began in 2010, HKK partners have accomplished a long list of goals and generated $1.1 million in cash, grants, in-kind, and volunteer support for our objectives. We’ve reflected and amplified a national and local social movement for healthier communities. Kingston is now recognized on the national and state level for its efforts to become a healthier community. For example, we were one of the first communities in New York to adopt a Complete Streets Resolution.
Our strong partnership took time to build, and we’ve found that in addition to our planned goals, many unanticipated outcomes and opportunities have arisen from the relationship and networks that we have cultivated. We believe it is necessary to continue cultivating and expanding upon these relationships to keep the movement for a healthier Kingston alive. This requires sustained efforts to bring people together on regular basis under a common agenda.
Live Well Kingston was born out of our partnership’s desire to grow the movement and have a more coordinated approach to tackling the barriers that prevent active living and healthy eating in Kingston.
At several meetings in 2012, the Mayor agreed to work with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County to co-coordinate the leadership of the city-endorsed coalition. A Live Well Kingston Kick-Off took place at City Hall on June 13, 2013 with a Mayor’s Proclamation establishing the coalition, and the coalition is meeting once monthly on the first Wednesday of the month. Our doors are open, and we hope you will join us!
Join the Movement!
Membership in the Live Well Kingston coalition is free to anyone who would like to join. We do encourage all members to consider sponsorship of the coalition at any level possible. Your dollars help us to show prospective funders Kingston’s commitment to our vision. We need funding to support the basic costs of running the coalition, and your dollars will contribute to sustaining our work. To join, download one of our Member/Sponsor Forms and return it to Kristen Wilson at a Live Well Kingston meeting. You can also drop it in the mail to Attn. Kristen Wilson, CCEUC, 232 Plaza Rd., Kingston, NY, 12401 or simply send Kristen an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to say you would like to join and include all the requested information on the form.
