At right, Quentin Hart, mayor of Waterloo, Iowa, poses at the city’s Pump and Run 5K.
Photo courtesy Quentin Hart
As a former Minnesota state representative who co-chaired a childhood obesity working group, Kim Norton, mayor of Rochester, Minnesota, had long championed the benefits of physical activity.
But after a chance meeting at a 2019 conference with John Clymer, executive director of the National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, Norton saw the chance to shape her then-new role as mayor into a community health tool through the forum’s Move With the Mayor initiative.
Launched in 2014, Move With the Mayor gives local mayors tools to lead physical activity and health promotion events in their communities, such as an event where Norton challenged local schoolchildren to beat her times running 100 meters, jump roping and hula hooping.
“I think the mayor has a unique role in cities and we can set the tone,” Norton told The Nation’s Health. “We can be that voice.”
The initiative, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has also been a vehicle to promote other public health campaigns, such as adult vaccination and flu vaccination. Mayors receive social media toolkits, event planning tips and evidence-based data to motivate residents.
In West Sacramento, California, Mayor Martha Guerrero said residents told her they caught up on vaccinations after seeing her in Move With the Mayor public service announcements in English and Spanish. The videos were particularly motivational for Hispanic residents, she said.
Martha Guerrero, mayor of West Sacramento, California, kicks off a cycling event in 2022.
Photo courtesy Move With the Mayor
This year, Move With the Mayor will focus on mental health. The topic became apriority for mayors and the national forum in the wake of a 2023 surgeon general report that found loneliness is associated with heart disease, stroke and depression, said Jen Childress, MS, MCHES, the forum’s director of programs. Over the years, many mayors have said they use physical activity to manage the stress of their own jobs.
“They say ‘Being physically active is really one way I know makes a difference within my own mental health, I know it can make a difference in other people’s,’” Childress told The Nation’s Health.
APHA is collaborating with the forum and CDC to help increase participation in the initiative. One goal is to foster social connections through physical activity, said Kiaira Smith, MPH, a public health program manager in APHA’s Center for Public Health Practice and Professional Development.
“We know that when people engage in physical activity in a social environment or with other people, the rates of depression go down,” Smith told The Nation’s Health. “We’re encouraging people to look at physical health and mental health as one. If they see a mayor that’s out there going on a walk or hosting an event, they might want to join too.”
As of March, over two dozen mayors had joined on to this year’s focus. The forum works with mental health experts to create evidence-based interventions, develop messaging campaigns mayors can use in their communities, and promote physical activity challenges in May, which is Mental Health Awareness Month.
Guerrero is one of the mayors who is on board. She regularly tells residents about the importance of not only physical activity, but deep breathing exercises to help them destress.
Being involved with Move With the Mayor gives her a chance to convene virtually with mayors across the country about how they are tackling community health issues and share best practices and program ideas, she said.
“(It’s) also a way to promote this among our own city employees, who I know are struggling as well with the stress they have.”
For more information, visit www.nationalforum.org/mwtm.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
