Steps to a Healthier Santa Clara County (Steps) is a federally funded, CDC initiative lead by community partners and the Santa Clara County Public Health Department, focused on the prevention of chronic diseases - specifically obesity, diabetes, and asthma. The interventions and policy work of the Steps Program address physical inactivity, poor nutrition, & tobacco use and this work is implemented in the community on school campuses, in local worksites, healthcare settings, and through the work of community-based organizations. Another method used by the Steps Program to address chronic diseases and health disparities is working at the neighborhood level, conducting neighborhood assessments to determine access to healthy foods and safe places to play and to use findings to engage and mobilize community members to work together to make environmental changes. Chronic disease prevention efforts are designed by sector (school, worksite, healthcare, community) and address organizational, systems and policy changes necessary to support and create healthy environments.

The Steps intervention area is comprised of 360,609 people, or nearly 21% of the county’s population. The demographics of the residents living in this area are 53% Hispanic, 24% Asian, 18% White and 3% Black. There are 66 public schools from five school districts located within this intervention area which incorporates the downtown and eastern portion of the city of San Jose. Efforts have expanded across Santa Clara County with targeted efforts in San Jose, Gilroy, and Mountain View, California.

Goal:

· Reduce the impact of chronic diseases through preventing and controlling asthma, diabetes, and obesity.
· Promote a comprehensive approach that coordinates actions at the individual, family, clinical, school, and community levels and integrates interventions addressing multiple chronic conditions.
· Reduce health disparities due to chronic disease by reaching social and ethnic groups that are disproportionately affected.

SCC Steps Program Information 

• SCC Steps Logic Model
• Steps to a Healthier Santa Clara County Fact Sheet/Overview 

Steps Area Maps

• Steps Map 
• Elementary Schools
• Middle Schools
• High Schools

Announcements/Resources

• Best Practice Resources
  

For more information, contact the SCC Steps Program Manager at (408) 793-2713 or main number at 408-793-2700.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Chronic Disease Prevention
• Steps to a Healthier US Initiative