Cal Poly’s efforts to conquer obesity took a statewide step forward Wednesday when local Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee recognized the efforts of Cal Poly’s developing Center for Obesity Prevention and Education (COPE.)
The organization was presented with a resolution endorsed by the California State Legislature and Blakeslee himself to support COPE’s mission of educating the community about health and obesity-related issues.
“They were presented with a large framed certificate that actually had to go through legislative counsel to be approved and become an official resolution,” said Courtney Kienow, a field representative for Blakeslee.
Prior to the noon presentation, Cal Poly students involved with the organization rode bicycles throughout Arroyo Grande and San Luis Obispo to collect signatures from agencies in support of the resolution.
COPE is an organization that works with numerous local agencies and institutions to educate the community about healthy eating and obesity. COPE’s original plan was to organize a bike trip all the way up to Sacramento and meet with the governor, but since the timing of the trip coincided with the legislature’s spring recess, the group decided to meet with Blakeslee locally instead.
“He presented us with a proclamation pledging to share his support and his knowledge of how COPE works and what we’re doing with other districts and counties so they can adopt similar programs and use this model we are presenting,” kinesiology senior Emanuel Mullenneaux said. Mullenneaux is working on this for his senior project and was a vital part of reaching out to the community and contacting legislative representatives, COPE director, nutrition professor Ann McDermott said.
Mullenneaux said the cyclists have currently collected a couple hundred signatures from local agencies and have plans to expand the petition, which is mostly symbolic.
“We’re not asking for money or looking for rules to be changed, just showing that there is support in this community,” he said.
McDermott said this legislative recognition will enhance recognition of Cal Poly’s work.
“We are positioning Cal Poly as a role model for other universities in the state as how to partner with agencies and institutions to promote health within the community,” she said. “We want to create programs designed specifically for people of different backgrounds in the train the trainer model because only then can it be sustainable.”
COPE is currently working on several different projects including Pink chefs, Dude Chefs and Wham! Pink chefs, Dude Chefs is a six-week program led by Cal Poly students to educate middle school students about cooking and nutrition. At the end of the program, participants plan a fiesta where they invite their friends and parents to a freshly-cooked meal.
Wham! is a program designed to spark interest in middle-school girls about fitness through fun exercise programs including kick boxing and yoga. All programs are developed in partnership with the agency or educational institution to best fit the needs of the participants.
Mullenneauz said this program’s message is especially needed in this time of budget instability.
The (California Legislature) is under a lot of pressure with budget issues and many groups are complaining about funding, so we wanted to say, here’s what we’re doing even in this time of budget crisis. We’re thinking outside the box, using student volunteers and being very efficient.”
McDermott thinks the program serves as a valuable model business plan.
“We’re like entrepreneurs, we act rapidly have interdisciplinary teams with science and public policy,” she said. “Lots of (the) time programs are develop that flop because someone sat in an office and didn’t work with the community to implement it and see how feasible it would be.”