September 2026 Newsletter

Moving Together: Youth Leading the Way to Active Communities

Welcome to this month’s update from the Healthy ROOTS Team! We’re working across 10 counties to improve access to healthy foods, create more places to be active, and support families and early care settings in building healthier futures.

This month, we're shining a spotlight on one of the most exciting strategies for building healthier communities: putting young people in the lead. Across our region, youth are not just participating in physical activity programming; they are designing it, advocating for it, and inspiring their neighbors to get moving. From the Halifax County 4-H Youth Wellness Council organizing a community 5K to research highlighting the importance of access to safe, active spaces, this issue celebrates what becomes possible when we create meaningful opportunities for young people to shape the communities they call home. We hope you'll find resources, stories, and tools here that you can use and share in your own community.

As always, we encourage you to share this newsletter with colleagues and partners who may benefit from these resources. If you received this from a colleague, we invite you to subscribe below to stay connected.

🏆 County Spotlight:

Halifax County Youth Lead the Way to a Healthier Community

This October, Halifax County will lace up for something new, and the people leading the charge are between 12 and 18 years old. The Red, White & Run 5K, set for October 17 at the 4-H Rural Life Center, is the brainchild of the Halifax County 4-H Youth Wellness Council, a group of 10 young people who have spent months planning every detail of the event from the race course and t-shirt designs to marketing and day-of logistics. Timed to kick off Halifax Harvest Days, the event is open to all ages and fitness levels, with proceeds supporting youth wellness programming in the county. Halifax County 4-H Agent Stephanie Proctor and FCS Agent EB Odom have guided the process, but the youth have been in the driver's seat from day one. As Proctor puts it, "This project is about so much more than a 5K. It's about giving young people the opportunity to lead, make decisions, and see that their ideas can create real change in their community."

The Youth Wellness Council is an outgrowth of the Youth-Adult Partnership (YAP) Collaborative, a Healthy ROOTS initiative that trains Extension agents to shift youth from being consulted to being true decision-makers. Proctor says the YAP training changed how she approaches her work: rather than asking youth for input after plans are already in motion, the council now brings youth to the table first,  giving them real choices and real responsibility. The results have spoken for themselves. When the t-shirt design project ran long, the youth didn't wait to be reminded; they stayed in touch with each other, finished the work, and delivered on time. The goal is for the Red, White & Run to become an annual tradition, giving new youth leaders a chance to carry the work forward each year.

Photos from the Spring 2026 Youth-Adult Partnerships Action Planning session. 

📌 Other Project News & Updates

• The Healthy ROOTS Initiative was featured in the Fall 2026 issue of CALS Magazine. Check out the article here!

• As highlighted in our feature story for this month, the Healthy ROOTS Youth-Adult Partnerships (YAP) Collaborative is continuing to empower youth and make impacts on local communities.

  • Want to get involved with YAP? Reach out to Kim Eshleman at keshlem@ncsu.edu.

• The Communities Moving Together Walk Audit Toolkit is step-by-step framework for bringing residents together to assess walkability and identify changes that make it safer and easier for people of all ages and abilities to walk, bike, and be active in their communities. You can access the free toolkit here!

  • Interested in conducting a walk audit in your community? Contact Annie Hardison-Moody at amhardis@ncsu.edu or Aaron Hipp at jahipp@ncsu.edu.

🖥️ Upcoming Webinar Opportunities

From Dangerous by Design to Walkable Streets: Addressing America’s Road Safety Challenges

• Join America Walks for a webinar on achieving long-term systems changes for road safety through near-term wins. Heidi Simon, Director of Thriving Communities at Smart Growth America (SGA), will provide an overview of the landscape, including a dive into SGA’s landmark report “Dangerous by Design” (2026).

  • 📅 Date: September 23, 2026, 2pm (ET)| 🔗 Register here.  

Creating Safe and Active Communities: Community Design and

Violence Prevention

• Join Safe States Alliance for its second webinar of the Creating Safe and Active Communities series. This webinar will examine how the design and care of shared spaces can support social connection, address community conditions associated with violence, and create welcoming places where residents feel a sense of belonging and ownership.

  • 📅 Date: September 29, 2026, 1pm (ET)| 🔗 Register here.
    

⭐ Featured Resource

Engaging youth to advance safer streets for all:

Guide and inspiration for partnership between youth and adults

This free guide from the National Center for Safe Routes to School offers a practical framework for meaningfully involving young people — not just as participants, but as decision-makers — in efforts to create safer, more walkable and bikeable communities. Whether you're an Extension agent, parks and recreation professional, or local partner, this resource can help you think through how to move youth engagement in your community from symbolic inclusion to genuine shared leadership.

🔬 Research & Evidence Corner

New Research in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health

"Changes in US Youth With Neighborhood Built Environment Supports for Physical Activity by Sociodemographic Characteristics, 2016-2017 to 2022-2023

A new national study tracked changes in four types of neighborhood built environment supports for youth physical activity, including  sidewalks, parks/playgrounds, libraries, and recreation centers,  from 2016–2017 to 2022–2023. Researchers found that while sidewalks and parks became more common overall, these gains were largely limited to higher-income youth.  Lower-income youth saw some supports decrease, including  libraries and recreation centers. . For Extension agents, parks and recreation professionals, public health partners, and local agencies working in rural and lower-income communities, this research underscores the importance of prioritizing investments in walkable destinations like recreation centers and libraries, not just paths and parks, and advocating for funding and policies that ensure community infrastructure improvements reach the families who need them most.

Citation: Soto, G. W., Chen, T. J., Nakayama, J. Y., & Whitfield, G. P. (2026). Changes in us youth with neighborhood built environment supports for physical activity by sociodemographic characteristics, 2016–2017 to 2022–2023. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2026-0197

Share This! (Social Media Toolkit)

⭐ Tips for posting:

• Tag Healthy ROOTS social media when reposting.

  • Facebook: @healthyrootsnc

  • Instagram: @healthyrootsnc

• Swap in your county name where relevant (e.g., "proud to support this work right here in [County]").

• These posts are formatted for Facebook. The link preview should auto-populate from the article URL — no extra image needed unless you'd like one.

  • For Instagram or to boost engagement, consider pairing with a stock produce photo or a photo of spaces for physical activity in the community (one of your own or one with a Creative Commons license).

📅 Upcoming Dates

Thank you for your continued partnership in building healthier communities.

We look forward to sharing monthly updates, resources, and stories from across our region. 

With appreciation,

The Healthy ROOTS Team

🌐 https://www.healthyrootsnc.org/ 

✉️ healthyroots@ncsu.edu

This project is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $2,304,000 with 100 percent funded by CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government.

NC State University and N.C. A&T State University work in tandem, along with federal, state and local governments, to form a strategic partnership called N.C. Cooperative Extension.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

Click here to unsubscribe

By clicking unsubscribe above, you will unsubscribe from ALL electronic newsletters from this department. If you would like to unsubscribe from specific mailings, please reply to this email and let us know what program you are no longer interested in receiving electronic communications from.