Welcome to the Healthy City!
In 2007 the Emeryville Chamber of Commerce launched its landmark Healthy City Initiative (HCI) Program. The Initiative is an ambitious plan designed to foster a healthy, vibrant, strong and safe community by promo
Welcome to the Healthy City!
In 2007 the Emeryville Chamber of Commerce launched its landmark Healthy City Initiative (HCI) Program. The Initiative is an ambitious plan designed to foster a healthy, vibrant, strong and safe community by promoting seven core values which the entire community can share and endorse. Each of the seven core values will involve linkages and connections to business, government, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and individuals, with the Chamber of Commerce serving as the central distribution point for information, ideas, HCI events and activities.
The Chamber’s First Annual Healthy City Expo and Leadership Luncheon was held on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 and the Second Annual Healthy City Expo was held on Thursday, September 9th, 2010.
The Emeryville Chamber specializes in networking and establishing connections. Expanding on that core competency, the Chamber launched an initiative that is, in a very real sense, a region-wide mega-connection.
When first introduced in February, 2007, the Initiative was comprised of five community-building components. Since then it has been expanded to include two additional components that strengthen the overall Program. The key elements of the HCI are:
1. Educational Health – Strong schools and lifelong learning. This element includes: linkages with higher education institutions, including U.C. Berkeley, Cal State – East Bay; Berkeley City College, and Ex’pression College for Digital Arts; and continued strong support for the Emery Unified School District and the Emery Ed Fund.
2. Environmental Stewardship and Sustainable Growth – Creating Green Businesses and a Green community. This element includes:Encouraging use of clean technologies; expanded use of solar and other renewable energy resources; expanded transit options; adoption and promotion of green building standards; support for and working with the East Bay Green Corridor Partnership, and continued promotion of the Bay Area Green Business Program and StopWaste.org.
3. Personal Wellness and Physical Health. This element includes: Promotion of recreation and exercise, nutrition and healthy eating; substance abuse education, Citywide wellness at work programs, ergonomics and stress reduction, and affiliation with the CA Task Force on Youth and Workplace Wellness, the American Cancer Society and local health and wellness practioners.
4. Economic Health – A vibrant local economy and balanced economic growth, includingeconomic expansion, promoting a stable and diversified economic base, attracting and retaining green businesses and technologies, a strengthened hospitality industry, and increased job opportunities.
5. Civic Health – Emergency Preparedness, citizen participation and voting. This element includes: World class communitywide emergency preparedness; enhanced community connections/e-communications; Leadership Eastbay Program; increasedvoter registration and participation; and support for the Emeryville Center for Community Life.
6. Artistic and Cultural Health. This element includes continued support for the Annual Emeryville Art Exhibition, supporting Arts IS Education Month, support for Open Studios and helping to support and raise money for arts and music programs in the Emery Schools, and active participation in the creation of the new Emeryville Arts and Cultural Center.
7. Digital and Technological Leadership: This element includes ensuring that Emeryville remains an East Bay technological leader through citywide wireless connections and promotion and facilitation of the biotechnology, biofuels, nanotechnology and stem cell research industries.
Each component will be rolled out over the next several years. The Chamber has already begun work on several Initiative elements, such as promoting the Green Business Program, the East Bay Green Corridor Partnership, and the Red Cross’s Prepare Bay Area Program. The Chamber has or is in the process of establishing formal partnerships, linkages and sponsorships with credible third-party organizations, including the American Cancer Society, Waste Management, PG&E, 511 Rideshare, StopWaste.org, and the Alameda County Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, to name just a few. Other credible organizations are welcome to join us.
The Emeryville Chamber of Commerce has been officially recognized by QuakeSmart (aprogram of the Safe America Foundation in Partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA]) because of our leadership in earthquake preparation and mitigation, and has been invited to work with the U.S. Geological Survey, the Great California Shake Out and other organizations and programs to promote earthquake mitigation measures statewide. The Emeryville Chamber of Commerce will continue to maintain and enhance its strong disaster preparedness efforts and will devote 2009 and 2010 to achieving the same level of recognition in promoting physical health and wellness.
The Chamber’s First Annual Healthy City Expo and Leadership Luncheon is set for Wednesday, September 9, 2009 and other components of the HCI Program include a dedicated website, www.healthycityinitative.com, to be unveiled in early September, 2009, which will be a one-stop site with comprehensive links and information on each of the seven Healthy City Initiative elements.
The Chamber welcomes the participation of all businesses, governments, schools and associations and individuals with a sincere commitment to building a stronger community to join it in this landmark effort.
The Initiative is an ambitious plan designed to foster a healthy, vibrant, strong and safe community by promoting seven core values which the entire community can share and endorse. Each of the seven core values will involve linkages and connections to business, government, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and individuals, with the Chamber of Commerce serving as the central distribution point for information, ideas, HCI events and activities.
Discounts for partners to Chamber events; networking opportunities; meaningful partnerships and collaboration with credible government, non-profit and other third-party service providers; a dedicated website; Annual Healthy City Expo; extra exposure for HCI business partners.
