We believe everyone deserves to live in a healthy community.
In 2011, New Orleans joined First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Cities program—a comprehensive initiative that was launched by the First Lady in 2010 and was dedicated to solving the problem of obesity within a generation. Former Mayor Mitch Landrieu set an ambitious goal: to make New Orleans a Top-10 fittest city in America by the city’s 300th anniversary celebration in 2018, based on the American College of Sports Medicine’s American Fitness Index.
Fast forward to 2023. While the city has made some inroads in the fight against obesity—rising in the ACSM rankings from 37th in 2011 to 30th in 2022, there is still much more to do.
The city continues to have an obesity rate that is above the national average.
Far too many communities don’t have access to fresh foods, safe playgrounds and meaningful recreational opportunities.
HealthyNOLA was born out of First Lady Obama’s Let’s Move program, and works with businesses, community groups, schools, government agencies and individuals to improve systems that contribute to obesity and chronic disease.
Renewing the mission
New Orleans residents know that mental health, obesity and obesity-related chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes pose significant risks to population health. A survey by the New Orleans Health Department found that New Orleans residents ranked mental health, obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes as four of their Top-5 community concerns.
Healthy New Orleans provides health and wellness consultation services to government agencies, civic and social organizations, community groups, businesses and individuals. Our services include participatory and health-contingent corporate wellness programs, such as Total Worker Health (TWH) wellness consulting, Health in all Policies (HiAP) consulting for community groups, and Faith, Activity, Nutrition (FAN) consulting for religious groups.
