Abbotsford
My Hometown Abbotsford
SCOPE in Abbotsford
Interact with SCOPE
SCOPE Abbotsford in the media
Resources
Links
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My Hometown Abbotsford
Abbotsford prides itself as the “City in the Country”: a blend of modern urban life and country living. Rich in diversity, culture, and opportunity, Abbotsford is a great place to live, work, and play. It is the fifth largest municipality in BC with about 140,000 people. A quick scan of the population reveals a diverse ethnic and socioeconomic make-up, and a large proportion of children/youth:
- 26% identify as a visible minority
- 3% identify as Aboriginal living on reserve
- 20% of the population is 0-14 years old
The challenge is to keep these community demographics in mind in order to address its health needs.
Schools are leading the way in Abbotsford. Most schools have joined Action Schools! BC . The Abbotsford school program includes mandatory daily physical activity. Schools also follow the recommended guidelines for healthier food and beverages in schools. Elementary, middle, and secondary schools take part in the School Fruit and Vegetable Nutritional Program, which provides fresh, local fruits and vegetables to schools every other week for 14 weeks in the year.
Recreation and sports are readily available in Abbotsford, including pools, arenas, and school sports teams and clubs. After-school programs and businesses also offer opportunities. With plenty of green space, warm summers, and mild winters, Abbotsford is a great place for year round activities like hiking, cycling, kayaking, water skiing, camping, and horseback riding.
Abbotsford is very active in promoting healthy living and building bridges between different members of the community. Family events such as the Diversity Health Fair (hosted by Abbotsford Community Services) bring the community together under common goals. Existing programs support new and established families, providing assistance and education – these are supported by City council, local churches and temples, and the local university (UFV). Abbotsford has also put a huge emphasis on youth and student involvement (e.g. Parks, Recreation and Culture Board, Abbotsford Youth Commission, Child and Youth friendly partnership in schools, Youth programs and drop-in centre). Stakeholders such as the City, Schools, health providers, media, and UFV are enthusiastic about addressing child health issues in the community. Abbotsford has a solid foundation to build upon! SCOPE Abbotsford hopes to strengthen existing networks and use them to help make healthy living easy and natural for your family.
Several leading organizations in the Healthy Abbotsford Partnership have developed the guideline, “Eat well. Be active. Live tobacco free.” The next step is to get the whole community on board to make this and similar goals a reality.
SCOPE in Abbotsford
Link to Blog
Click here for our Abbotsford-specific blog posts – comments and feedback welcome!
Click here to see our entire blog – comments and feedback welcome!
Interact! Share with us
We want to know what you think about your community: what parts of your community are safe, where do you like to be physically active, where do you buy healthy foods like fruits and vegetables? Any questions, comments or feedback are welcome.
Media
- Read about SCOPE Abbotsford being featured in the news!
| Media Centre | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sept 30, 2011 | The Abbotsford News | Mayor Peary’s 5-2-1-0 Challenge
Healthy Kids Live 5-2-1-0 Power Down: No more than 2 hours of screen time per day |
View Online |
| Sept 27, 2011 | The Abbotsford Mission Times | A Heavy Dose of Health | View Article |
| April 7, 2011 | The Abbotsford News | Enjoy – 5 or more vegetables and fruits every day | View Promotion |
| Dec. 13, 2010 | The Abbotsford News | 5-2-1-0 Mantra in Battle Against Childhood Obesity | Summary View Article |
| May 28, 2010 | Abbotsford Mission Times | Keeping kids from ‘old man disease’ – SCOPE looks to help youths fight diabetes | View Article Summary |
| May 26, 2010 | The Abbotsford News | Childhood obesity targeted | Summary |
Resources
Healthy Choices
Visit our Live 5-2-1-0 section for more information on how to keep kids healthy! Download the SCOPE Abbotsford Live 5-2-1-0 Fact Sheet.
Documents and Reports Abbotsford
SCOPE is excited to be in Abbotsford and we want everyone to know about it. Download this one page information sheet and send it to your friends, family and co-workers so that they can participate in SCOPE too!
SCOPE recently hosted a planning meeting with community leaders who are involved in the delivery of programs and services that encourage healthy living in Abbotsford. To learn more about what happened at this meeting read the meeting report here
Links
Some great things are happening in Abbotsford! Visit SCOPE’s partner Healthy Abbotsford for upcoming events and local programs.
- The City of Abbotsford’s Parks, Recreation and Culture is a great resource for activities, for the young and old!
- Action Schools BC Providing more opportunities for more children to make healthy choices more often.
- Winter may be starting but the Abbotsford Farm and Country Market will still be open! Check their website for the dates, and don’t miss the opportunity to indulge in local in-season produce and much more!
[...] to SCOPE community Abbotsford, one of five BC communities who won the Healthy Families BC Walking Challenge… and $10,000 [...]