Healthy communities have streets and parks where residents feel safe walking, and have healthy recreational opportunities, provide safe access to healthy food options, encourage public transportation so residents can readily access education and employment, and connect to health care. CASA collaborates with regional coalitions and the County's Live Well San Diego initiative to create healthy communities.
Preventing exposure to secondhand smoke: The U.S. Surgeon General, working with a team of leading health experts, studied how breathing secondhand tobacco smoke affects you. Their conclusion: There is no safe amount of secondhand smoke! Breathing even a little secondhand smoke can be dangerous. (2006 Surgeon General's Report). What can you do? Join us in helping make your environment smoke-free! CASA's projects to prevent exposure to secondhand smoke include:
Smokefree multi-unit housing - While California state law provides extensive protection from exposure to secondhand smoke in workplaces, this protection is not yet available to people living in multi-unit rental housing.
Smokefree restaurants and public places - Our recent success include working with the City of Coronado to make public spaces on this pristine island community smokefree.
Tobacco Retail License (TRL) in Lemon Grove and El Cajon
How does marijuana really impact California?
The California High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) describes the impacts marijuana is ALREADY having on California!
Key findings include:
Increased youth use
Increased drugged driving
Increase in marijuana-related emergency department & hospital admission
Long term environmental impact
Click the photo to the right to read the full report!
Improving Community Conditions
CASA volunteers and Public Health Interns work in East Region communities conducting walkability studies to identify potential barriers to safe routes to schools, parks and healthy food options; park audits to document conditions at neighborhood parks that may keep people away; community building to improve conditions at neighborhood parks.