This paper provides a community agency assessment of the California Obesity Prevention Plan (COPP), a statewide public health initiative developed by the California Department of Public Health in response to rising obesity rates across the state. The paper examines the COPP's organizational mission, its multi-sectoral policy approach, the populations it serves, and the core services it provides — including outreach to high-risk demographics, financial incentives for healthy food producers, and land-use designations for recreational access. Special attention is given to the role of schools, families, and commercial partners in the plan's prevention-focused framework, as well as its implications for high-need communities such as Los Angeles County.
Los Angeles County is largely reflective of patterns throughout California and the United States concerning rates of adult and juvenile obesity. This is one of the most pressing public health crises in the United States today and, without intervention, will only continue to worsen. The focus on the Los Angeles area is justified by the sharp rise in obesity levels there between 1997 and 2005 — a period during which the Los Angeles County Public Health agency reports that the average adult gained six pounds (p. 1). This represents an alarming increase in obesity levels and validates the importance of community programs such as the California Obesity Prevention Plan (COPP).
The California Obesity Prevention Plan was prompted into existence by the recognition that obesity levels in the state have risen to levels that threaten public health. Connecting obesity to heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension, the COPP indicates that this trend has been driven by poor nutrition habits and relative physical inactivity. This informs its mission: to bring education and exercise programs to the demographics that reflect the greatest level of need. Accordingly, the California Department of Public Health developed what it describes as "a vision for a healthier California. Governor Schwarzenegger developed a 10 Step Vision for a Healthy California and convened the Summit on Health, Nutrition and Obesity in September 2005 as a call to action to bring focus and momentum to the transformation that is needed to create the healthy California in which we all want to live" (Schwarzenegger et al., p. 1).
The Prevention Plan is supported by an organizational structure that echoes the state's previously successful efforts in reducing statewide tobacco use. The state proposes to employ what it calls a multi-sectoral policy, which involves the input and efforts of all sectors of California's public and private life. This means reaching out to places of employment, schools, community-based public health agencies, medical practitioners, and parents in the hopes of altering eating and exercise habits on all fronts.
The COPP identified several core areas of civic life to which it intends to appeal in order to ensure proper support for promoting better eating and a diversification of physical activities. It notes that schools must be leaders in prevention efforts by meeting minimum state standards for physical education programs, creating attractive and accessible facilities for after-school recreation, providing healthy lunches that meet high nutritional and quality standards, providing access to the federal school breakfast program for those who cannot afford breakfast at home, and advertising only healthy and locally sourced foods on school premises (Schwarzenegger et al., p. 2).
There is a clear emphasis within the COPP on protecting youth from the long-term implications of obesity — a primary feature of the program's preventative approach. This focus is further reinforced by the program's emphasis on family nutritional habits. The program places significant responsibility on the household, indicating that establishing family mealtimes at least once a day, making more judicious selections of fruits and vegetables, practicing portion control, reducing television and computer screen time, and engaging in family exercise time can all help lengthen the lives of parents while reducing the prospects of obesity in children.
At another level, the program engages both commercial food producers and local celebrities in support of its goals. Food producers are encouraged to improve the balance and affordability of healthy food options, while prominent entertainers and athletes serve as valuable policy advocates who help proliferate an important message. Although certain demographics are targeted for their heightened vulnerability, the state of California as a whole is the ultimate population served. The implications of this broad service direction are especially significant for large-population contexts such as Los Angeles County and the surrounding metropolitan area. The program is generally facilitated by public funding, including taxpayer allocations to the California Department of Public Health.
"Outreach, financial incentives, and land-use planning"
"Eligibility, affordability, and program accessibility"
The California Obesity Prevention Plan represents a comprehensive, prevention-focused public health initiative designed to reach all Californians through coordinated efforts across schools, families, businesses, and government. By addressing obesity through a multi-sectoral lens — engaging institutions from education to commercial food production — the COPP reflects an understanding that sustainable public health change requires systemic, community-wide action.
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