New Healthy West Chicago director says city is ready to be healthy

Andi Cooper believes West Chicago is ready to be the healthiest community in the region.

Since being named Healthy West Chicago director in March, she said she has been continually impressed by efforts throughout the city to get residents active and eating better.

"It has been so well-directed up to this point by volunteers," she said. "I'm wide-awake at night with enthusiasm for this community and the work we're doing and the potential."

Mayor Ruben Pineda started the Healthy West Chicago initiative more than two years ago to combat the high obesity rate in the city's schools, which hovers around 48 percent. Since then, he has gained the support of about 40 community partners to help raise awareness about healthy eating and physical activity, but felt the group was missing a "quarterback" to lead the initiative.

Cooper said she believes her past experience as a landscape architect and working on community projects in Lombard, where she resides, will help in the new role.

"You have to have good designs, have many partners on board, the community members need a voice, and health is at the forefront of almost every conversation," she said.

One of the Cooper's top priorities is implementing the new Healthy West Chicago action plan. Cooper decided to use her first year on the job to address two pillars listed under goals and objectives in the plan: Healthy eating and physical activity.

For healthy eating, the group will encourage residents to replace sugary drinks with water. Efforts to get that message across started last month, when the group offered fruit-infused water at the mayor's State of the City address.

"What I like about it is everyone has access to water," Cooper said. "I don't have to encourage everybody to go buy something."

For physical activity, Cooper wants to expand on the mayor's walking program by offering alternatives to the one-hour slot he has available to walk with residents on the weekends.

"We all have full lives, so we're trying to kind of take that concept and broaden it a little bit so there's more opportunity for groups to walk together," she said.

One initiative Pineda and Cooper are already working on together is a program called Move with the Mayor, which will occur in West Chicago and five other cities across the nation during September.

"We're either going to count all our steps or miles or time spent walking," Pineda said. "It's not about losing weight - it's just about how many steps we can get as a community."

Cooper is also working with a nonprofit group to create a strategic communications plan that will be finalized in a few weeks.

"Part of what we need to understand at Healthy West Chicago is how do our constituents want to receive communications and how do they currently," she said. The plan will address the best way to reach English and Spanish speakers.

Other initiatives include the signing of the American Heart Association's Commitment to Healthy on Wednesday by Healthy West Chicago, city officials and the chamber of commerce, as well as a meeting on Thursday to start creating a database of edible gardens in the city.

"What's exciting is there's resources at the table," Cooper said. "We will make great things happen in West Chicago and we're ready for it."