Policy in action in Albany—the DASH-NY coalition takes a new agenda to legislators.
Tuesday, February 2nd was an exciting, game-changing day for Designing a Strong and Healthy New York (DASH-NY). After five years of building a powerful coalition of more than 100 advocacy and community-based organizations, we arrived in Albany, NY, ready to present our first Policy Priority agenda to legislators.
At the top of our agenda was support for the dramatic expansion of public transportation in New York’s long-neglected upstate communities. With DASH-NY coalition members Nadine Lemmon and Veronica Vanterpool from the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, we were determined to also make a case for Complete Streets, as these two policies support DASH-NY’s mission to improve chronic disease across the state.
There’s a pressing need for better, safer and greatly expanded transportation in upstate New York. In Buffalo, a city of more than 250,000 people, 46 percent of the city’s buses are beyond their useful life; in Broome County, with a population of 198,000, the number is 60 percent. When it comes to safety—an issue addressed by Complete Streets—New York State has the highest rate of bike and pedestrian traffic fatalities in United States.
We got our own taste of how tough it is to get around upstate without a car, when we struggled to even find a way to get from Amtrak to the state capitol building. It was easy to see that upstate residents without cars have very limited access to health care and other resources and economic opportunities.
Our minor transportation debacle behind us, we entered the capitol building and found it bustling with excitement and energy. In the middle of the lobby, hundreds of college students were sharing their stories of tuition-related stresses to urge legislators to support student financial aid programs. As we walked down the hallway, a flood of adults in red shirts, emblazoned with the AARP logo, went by waving signs calling for paid family leave.
We’re Here to be Heard
The first week of February is the public’s first advocacy opportunity after the release of the Governor’s budget. Constituents from across the state who are passionate about a broad array of issues were there to meet with their elected representatives to voice the needs of their communities.
We were thrilled to be there leading the work of a coalition that brings together community organizations and advocacy groups focused on advancing a statewide health-in-all-policies approach.
DASH-NY began in 2010 through a grant from the New York State Department of Health with a mission to help communities across the state implement obesity prevention strategies. Housed at the Academy, the coalition expanded its work to address issues ranging from farming to preventing heart disease to supporting economic development.
The coalition transitioned in 2015 to focus on state-level advocacy for chronic disease prevention and well-being. By shifting to advocacy, DASH-NY will support wide-reaching efforts to change how communities interact with systems and the environment to help people live healthier lives.
To celebrate, we have made the week of February 8th DASH-NY 2016 Policy Priority launch week. To kick things off, we are inviting concerned community members from all over the state to learn how to advocate through our webinars, Engaging in Advocacy: An Introduction to Statewide Advocacy on and the DASH-NY Coalition on February 10 from 1:00 pm -2:30 pm and Pressing Issues: DASH-NY 2016 Food Policy Priorities on February 12 from 12:00 pm -1:00 pm.
Each DASH-NY Policy Priority is a cross-cutting tool intended to bridge concerns across the coalition’s organizations. Facilitating this multi-sectorial discussion and action is why DASH-NY was created, to promote policy, systems and environmental changes that will bring diverse groups together to make each New York State community a healthier place to live, work and play.
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