The Health + Planning Policy Toolkit serves as a user-friendly resource for planners, public health professionals, advocates, elected officials, and other interested staff or citizens to successfully integrate healthy eating and active living into their County Comprehensive Plan and other local planning efforts.

The statewide non-profit Eat Smart Move More SC, in partnership with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, commissioned a study of strategies for integrating healthy eating and active living principles into County Comprehensive Plans in South Carolina. Alta Planning + Design worked with the Georgia Health Policy Center (of Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies) to determine the state of the practice of addressing health in comprehensive plans. Following this assessment, Alta researched national best practices and identified model policy language related to healthy eating and active living.

Through a series of four regional workshops around the state of South Carolina, Alta worked to bridge the gap between planners, public health educators, and local citizens and advocates who are interested in health-related policies. The workshops trained attendees in SC requirements for comprehensive planning and provided a step by step guide for using the Health + Planning Toolkit to incorporate healthy eating and active living principles.