Connecting People with Parks

Active In Parks achieved peer recognition at the prestigious 2012 Victorian Health Promotion awards held in early December 2012. People and Parks Foundation’s were one of three finalists in the Building Health through Community and Local Government category at the official awards ceremony. Held at Victoria’s Government House and hosted by His Excellency the Honourable Alex Chernov AC QC, Governor of Victoria, a total of eight awards were presented.  The Women’s Health West and Consortium received the award for Preventing Violence Together: The Western Region Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women in the category Active In Parks was also nominated for.

CEO, Jacqui deKievit attend on behalf of the Foundation. "Being a finalist for a ‘VicHealth’ award, and to get recognition for the importance of parks in preventative health is very exciting. The program is a pilot and it is especially encouraging to be amongst the other finalists and winners. It was also great to see Medibank Community Fund recognised as a finalist for their innovative work in the Communications in Health Promotion category too.”

Medibank Manager, Group Community Relations, Rita Marigliani said "These awards are great recognition of the hard work and creative thinking that goes into getting people to be more aware of and responsible about health issues that might affect them and how parks can play a part in good health."  "It’s great to see preventative measures that help people become fitter and healthier, rather than just focussing on treatment being acknowledged. To have VicHealth promoting our achievements is a real honour."

On Thursday 30th August, Point Nepean will host an education program aimed at inspiring future environmental leaders.

This day is being held as part of the national week long 2012 Australia Post Kids Teaching Kids Week. The Point Nepean event will bring together about 230 students from nine local primary schools from Sorrento to Frankston to participate in an innovative program or workshops, field trips and presentations.

Healthy Parks Healthy People "Active in Parks" is an innovative program targeting health and community agencies, to connect people to parks and open spaces to improve national health and wellbeing - physically, socially and mentally.

Sponsored by Medibank Community Fund, People and Parks Foundation together with Parks Victoria, have developed the Healthy Parks Healthy People - Active in Parks program as a pilot in Geelong, Victoria with extraordinary success. It is designed to be replicated nationally as a new approach to preventative health. 

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People and Parks Foundation were awarded the Excellence in Parks (Social) Award for the Healthy Parks, Healthy People - Geelong’s Active in Parks Program at the 5^th International Parks Management and Leadership Conference ‘Parks Beyond Boundaries’ in Adelaide on 23 May.

The award recognises excellence and best practice in operational programs and projects that welcome new visitors or encourage the use of parks by groups that do not usually visit or recreate in them. The awarding organisation, the Parks Forum, is the peak body for park management organisations with members across Australia, New Zealand, Canada, The UK and the US.

In accepting the award, Chief Executive Jacqui deKievit thanked major sponsor the Medibank Community Fund, key partner Parks Victoria, as well as G21 Geelong Region Alliance, Barwon Medicare Local, Department of Planning and Community Development, Department of Health and the many organisations in the Geelong region who have been supporting partners.

The Parks Forum commented that whilst there was a very strong field, the ‘Active in Parks’ program was favoured because of the extensive stakeholder engagement, the strong buy-in with local organisations and the robust sustainability framework underpinning it.