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

The Center is title sponsor and lead of 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 come together to learn how to create safe walkable places and explore how to bridge divides and address disparities.

The Blue Cross Trailblazer Tour showcases success stories of organizations throughout the state of Minnesota who are 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, is featured as one of the trailblazers leading the way.

While the overall smoking rate in Minnesota has reached a historic low, a closer look shows that the costs are still high, and that deep inequities exist among those who use commercial tobacco. A 2017 Blue Cross study shows that each year, smoking is 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 diverse youth to tell healthy equity stories from their own communities.