Champlain Area Trails Inc.

Through its Building Healthy Communities priority area, NYHealth has supported neighborhood-level approaches to improve access to healthy, affordable food and to activate spaces to encourage more physical activity.

Recognizing that sustainable resident engagement is vital to community health, NYHealth is supporting its Building Healthy Communities grantees to ensure that the residents of these neighborhoods have the leadership skills, resources, and other tools needed to advocate for community health. With this support, grantees can help remove barriers to resident participation and ensure the long-term sustainability of the overall work in these communities. In 2020, NYHealth awarded Champlain Area Trails (CATS) a grant to help implement resident engagement strategies in Clinton County.

Under this grant, CATS replicated its successful model to increase public use and awareness of trails that residents can use for hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, and other outdoor activities in Clinton County. CATS produced and distributed updated versions of a free Northern Champlain Valley trail map to residents. It promoted new and existing trails and other outdoor activities through media outreach, workshops, and organized hikes and nature walks. CATS also organized a series of hiking challenges for residents to participate in and earn a commemorative patch for completing certain trails. To evaluate resident engagement, CATS used trail counters to keep track of the number of people who use the trails and resident surveys to inform and improve outdoor activities.