I wrote part of a grant proposal today that would allow our high school<\/p>\n
students to conduct research connected to nutrition, exercise, and<\/p>\n
obesity<\/b>. They would identify local opportunities for recreational<\/p>\n
exercise and healthy food, and also local sources of unhealthy food and<\/p>\n
barriers to exercise (such as streets without sidewalks). They would place<\/p>\n
these items on an online, public map along with the routes of local buses<\/p>\n
and Metrorail. Their goals would be (a) to show local residents how they<\/p>\n
can get to healthy opportunities; and (b) to show local policymakers how<\/p>\n
inaccessible certain important opportunities are.<\/p>\n
At the same time, students could calculate how much unhealthy food (i.e.,<\/p>\n
grams of fat) can be purchased in various locations for one dollar, versus<\/p>\n
how much healthy food can be bought. These figures could also be displayed<\/p>\n
on a map. Students could then compare statistics from comparable areas<\/p>\n
such as Takoma Park or Silver Spring, MD.<\/p>\n
I have been thinking more generally about how young people—especially<\/p>\n
non-college-bound kids and kids of color—can learn to play a role<\/p>\n
in local decisions about zoning, economic development, and transportation.<\/p>\n
They are disproportionately affected by these decisions, yet they rarely<\/p>\n
participate in public meetings or discussions. CIRCLE has identified "non-college<\/p>\n youth<\/a>" as a group that does not vote, does not attend community<\/p>\n meetings or join local groups, and does not have the knowledge necessary<\/p>\n to participate. Furthermore, habits of participation or non-participation<\/p>\n are usually set in adolescence, so unless we find ways to involve these<\/p>\n young people while they are still in high school, chances are they will<\/p>\n be uninvolved for the rest of their lives. One promising idea is to get<\/p>\n them interested in using technological tools for urban planning, such<\/p>\n