In early 2017, the Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA FL) began a process of creating a project that would bring public health professionals and land use planners together. This project was the result of a grant received from the American Planning Association called Planners4Health. A small task force was assembled and consisted of professionals with backgrounds in public health, transportation, land use planning, elderly issues, food systems, and environmental issues. This group used grant funds to hire a facilitator to assist in the identification of a project that would not only be sustainable, but far-reaching and easily disseminated.
Within the first day’s exercise, the group elected to work towards the creation of a web-based platform to assist professionals from each sector to cross-collaborate and foster interaction with each other. Recognizing that Florida is a large state, the ease of being able to interact via a desktop site was made the priority. Throughout the year in development of this site, the task force also polled planners and public health officials to understand the knowledge base of the other profession, worked with a larger committee of individuals from the health and planning sectors, and began to build the website. This site is the result of those efforts.
For further information and to offer potential content for this site, please contact Grayson Taylor, floridaplanningstaff@gmail.com.
