Send in a letter of support for legislation in CA to support joint use by going here: http://www.cpehn.org/pdfs/AB%202705ltr-Approps.doc
Increasing physical activity is essential to reducing the incidence of obesity and diabetes. But there are significant challenges to ensuring our communities can get the activity we need to be healthy. Studies have shown that students may spend as little as four minutes of every half hour of physical education classes engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity. In addition, many of our communities, including nearly a third of African Americans and Latinos and a quarter of Asian and Pacific Islanders, have no access to parks or open spaces.
AB 2705 (Hall) will help promote physical activity in school and after school programs. The bill would require that students spend at least 50% of PE class time in moderate to vigorous physical activity, and requires after-school programs to provide at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity.
AB 2705 will also address the lack of safe places to exercise by helping communities access school facilities for physical activity. The bill would improve the state's joint-use program to give communities more flexibility in raising their local share of the financing, and allows the funds to go toward creating outdoor facilities, which will help ensure the new projects can be used for physical activity.
The bill will be heard in Assembly Appropriations Committee on May 26. Write the Chair of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes, asking him to support the bill and vote it off suspense. You can find a sample letter here: http://www.cpehn.org/pdfs/AB%202705ltr-Approps.doc .
