Joint Use of School Facilities

Overview
Key Aims of Grant
Why Joint Use?
Share your Joint Use Story with us
California School Boards Association: Sample Board Policy, Joint Use Agreements (1330.1A)   
Joint Use Project Fact Sheet 
Joint Use Frequently Asked Quesions fact sheet
Questions about Joint Use?  Contact Joanne Gooley at joanne.gooley@cdph.ca.gov or (916) 449-5294.  

Overview

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has secured grant funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) for obesity prevention efforts. The Recovery Act includes funds for community -based prevention and wellness strategies and physical activity, and nutrition initiatives that promote wellness and prevent chronic disease through state-wide policy and local policy.  Projects are funded for two years, beginning in January of 2010.    

California Project LEAN and  in partnership with the another CDPH program, Safe and Active Communities, has taken the lead for the physical activity initiative for this grant.  The physical activity initiative will focus on joint use of school facilities and CDPH will lay the ground work to advance state and local policies that increase equitable access to safe and attractive school facilities outside of the school day for physical activity and recreation.   

Key Aims of the Grant

The key aims of the grant are to: 

• Work toward adoption and implementation of a state joint use policy to reduce at least one major barrier to community after-hours use of indoor and outdoor school physical activity facilities. 
• Work with a minimum of 10 schools in low-resource communities to establish joint use policies and practices.

Why Joint Use?

Many communities across California lack safe, well-maintained, and accessible places for community members to be physically active.  Access to no- or low-cost public spaces for physical activity plays a critical role in the prevention and treatment of obesity and overweight.  In many communities, schools provide the only open space for recreation and physical activity for students, families, and the community.  Policies and practices that support community use of outdoor facilities anytime outside of the school day and/or agreements where schools/districts/county offices of education jointly share recreational facilities for community use before, during and/or after the school day are a healthy solution that optimizes resources.

Share your Joint Use Story with us

If you have a joint use policy or practice that you would like us to refer to or share with others, send us your story.  Please tell us:

• The name of your district/organization.
• The type of joint use practice you have in place.
• The partners who are using the space and for what purposes.
• How you are addressing maintenance, operations, and liability.

If you have a joint use policy or agreement in place, please send it to us as a sample we can share with others who are trying to implement joint use policies/practices.

For additional information about joint use visit www.jointuse.org.