Our History

Proudly sponsored by the Center for Prevention, The Minnesota Food Access Summit brought together nearly 550 individuals from different fields, aiming to solve the issue of healthy food access. 

The Center released results of a multi-year evaluation study for Alexandria’s 2014 Broadway Complete Streets project. The study offered an assessment of key economic indicators and focused on business owners’ and city leaders’ opinions of the project. 

The Center was the title sponsor and lead of the local host committee for the National Walking Summit in Saint Paul. Community advocates, nonprofit representatives, government officials, and transit, health, and planning professionals from all over the United States came together to learn how to create safe walkable places and explore how to bridge divides and address community health.

The Blue Cross Trailblazer Tour showcased success stories of organizations throughout the state of Minnesota who were helping build healthier communities and making a difference in people’s lives through their innovative work and strategic partnerships. Live Healthy Red Wing, an Active Living for All initiative, was featured as one of the trailblazers leading the way. 

While the overall smoking rate in Minnesota reached a historic low, a closer look showed that the costs were still high, and that deep adverse community health outcomes existed among those who used commercial tobacco. A 2017 Blue Cross study showed that each year, smoking was responsible for 6,312 deaths and $3.19 billion in excess medical costs.

The Center for Prevention partnered with ThreeSixty Journalism at their inaugural TV broadcast camp to empower youth to tell healthy equity stories from their own communities.