15-year old Prince Pen
high schooler advocates for community garden
Prince Pen, a 15-year-old high school freshman, is working to establish a community garden in his South Austin neighborhood. He got the idea after successfully bringing fresh vegetables to a nearby corner store that previously stocked only processed foods. And he got that idea after working on a presidential campaign during the 2016 election…
GAVA resident leader and community organizer Frances Acuna talks about healthy food access in her neighborhood. To learn more, visit https://www.AetnaWeJoinYou.com
Our neighborhood health story: This nonprofit is changing the way south Austin eats
Frances A.’s passion for healthy eating began early. Growing up, she and her family of ten were very poor, and meals were whatever they could grow themselves: corn, cactus, beans and mango. When she moved to the United States and began raising three boys of her own, she discovered it wasn’t so easy to eat the same way. The nearest grocery store was a ten-minute car ride from her home in southeast Austin, TX. And the produce there was expensive – more of a splurge than a staple. Out of convenience, Frances ended up doing much of her shopping at a local corner store. Faced with shelves full of chips, candy and boxed pastas, she found it difficult to make healthy choices...
Resident leaders Mayra Jimenez and Elena Rodriguez talk about their work with GAVA to transform the health of their neighborhoods. To learn more, visit https://www.AetnaWeJoinYou.com
Our neighborhood health story: Meet the Texas nonprofit that’s transforming a community’s health, one step at a time
...Fed up with the dangerous path and eager to provide her kids with at least two built-in walks a day, [resident leader Mayra Jimenez] and other concerned parents teamed up with GO! Austin/¡VAMOS! Austin (GAVA), a local nonprofit devoted to helping south Austin residents live healthier lives through access to healthy food, physical activity, school health, early childhood and community safety. Its efforts have been boosted by a recent $100,000 Cultivating Healthy Communities grant from the Aetna Foundation...
In 2016, Odom’s GAVA Park Team received funding from Austin Parks Foundation to improve their park.
Local Superheros Promote communities
Have you ever felt the excitement of going to your favorite neighborhood park only to realize the playground is unusable due to it being damaged?
When neighborhood parks are in need of repair in Austin, Texas, community superheroes step in to save the day! They do this by raising awareness directly to city council members and help implement high-priority changes. These superheroes are members of a local non-profit neighborhood organization called, “Go! Austin/Vamos! Austin” (GAVA), whose main mission is to improve the physical health of South Austin neighborhoods…
Executive Director Carmen Llanes Pulido speaking on Univision - May 4, 2018
Estudio revela mejoras en la calidad de vida en el este de Austin
La tarde de este jueves se llevó a cabo una junta comunitaria para hablar sobre los diferentes servicios que existen en el este de Austin para mejorar la calidad de vida en dicha región.
Executive Director Carmen Llanes Pulido speaking on Telemundo Austin - May 3, 2018
GAVA realiza foro público para informar y concientizar a la comunidad
Go Austin o Vamos Austin (GAVA), el grupo cívico del sureste de nuestra ciudad busca concientizar a los residentes de nuestra ciudad sobre temas sociales como la salud.
El jueves a partir de las 5:30 p.m. GAVA realizará un foro público en la escuela Mendez para informar sobre su labor y las necesidades del barrio.
Evidence-based publication on GAVA's model in Frontiers
March 22, 2018
Designing Place-Based Interventions for Sustainability and Replicability: The Case of GO! Austin/VAMOS! Austin
Place-based health efforts account for the role of the community environment in shaping decisions and circumstances that affect population well-being. Such efforts, rooted as they are in the theory that health is socially determined, mobilize resources for health promotion that are not typically used, and offer a more informed and robust way of promoting health outcomes within a community...
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