Penny Wolfgang Talks "Healthy" Communities with Philip Haberstro on Public Affairs Radio Show

BUFFALO, NY: Philip Haberstro, founder and Executive Director of the non-profit Wellness Institute of Greater Buffalo, was a guest for “On Target with Penny Wolfgang” the Weekend, June 25th. Mr. Haberstro discussed the health of the Buffalo-Niagara region, challenges it currently faces, and progress being made to address them. Phil’s perception takes into account his 27+ years’ experience with the Healthy Communities movement , community health promotionadvocacy in the Greater Buffalo area, and the text of local author Lawrence Brooks new book: “Buffalo Niagara: Diagnosis & Prescription for Change” (available at local Barnes & Noble Booksellers).

“On Target with Penny Wolfgang” is a weekly public affairs show that discusses local issues that impact the Western New York Area, hosted by Supreme Court of Erie County Justice Penny M. Wolfgang. The show airs Saturday mornings form 6:00 A.M.-7:00 A.M. on local stations WKBW, 1520 AM, and WLKK, 107.7 F.M., and Sunday mornings from 6:00 A.M.-7:00 A.M. on local stations WKSE, 98.5 FM, and WTSS, 102.5 FM.

To listen to a podcast of this interview, visit www.espn1520.com, go to “Shows,” pick “On Target,” and scroll down under picture and select “click here to listen to podcasts.” Click on the name of the guest (Philip Haberstro) to listen.

B-Well Walking Program Receives State Recognition as “Best Practice”

The City of Buffalo’s B-Well Program, managed by The Wellness Institute of Greater Buffalo, has been featured in the New York State Department of Health’s Spring 2016 Public Health Toolkit. The quarterly, online publication highlights the walking/walkability program as a best practice for public health professionals and community advocates.

All B-Well walks contribute to the 2016 "Walking to Wellness-40+ Million Steps" campaign. To participate in a B-Well sponsored walk, or any walk facilitated by the Wellness Institute, please view our events calendar, or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more detailed information.

Click here to view the complete Spring 2016 Public Health Toolkit, featuring information on:

Arthritis
Healthy Nutrition
Infant Immunization
Spring Emergency Preparedness
Stroke

Whether it's walking, running, rolling, or biking, there has never been a better time to Be Active in Buffalo and Western New York!

Community SOCIAL CAPITAL measured for the first time in WNY!

Preliminary Findings to be released in late Spring 2017!

Contact PHIL HABERSTRO or JAMES QUINN Phone: (716) 851-4052 Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Buffalo, N.Y. July 6, 2015 – The nonprofit Wellness Institute of Greater Buffalo is pleased to announce their new social capital initiative. The Wellness Institute is teaming up with Buffalo State College to measure community well-being through the lens of Social capital.. Leading the team is the Institute’s Director of Social Capital initiatives, James Quinn and the Wellness Institute’s Executive Director, Phil Haberstro. Academic support is being provided by Buffalo State’s Dr. Scott Roberts of the Health and Wellness Department and Jon Slaughter our statistics professional who will be heading the project’s analysis. After extensive research, the team decided to measure community well-being by measuring the asset known as social capital. The confidential survey is available at www.surveymonkey.com/r/Connected716 Social capital is considered by many researchers as “the glue that holds society together.” The formal definition of social capital is “the features of social life, networks, norms, and trust that enable participants to act together more effectively to pursue shared objectives (Robert Putnam, Harvard University).”

Increasingly over the past decades, social researchers have studied how social capital effects the community. Studies have documented that social capital plays a vital role in health, happiness, community safety, and economic prosperity. A 2003 Chicago study noted that mortality rates of all types dropped in geographic areas with higher levels of social capital. Researchers at the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at Yale University have found evidence that social capital in the form of community pride significantly reduces gun violence and street crime. Researchers have conducted numerous empirical studies that highlight that the presence of social capital creates a better economic environment for businesses and citizens alike. This is a direct result of the greater cultivation of human capital or working skills and the spread of information such as employment opportunities that strong networks of social capital create (Coleman, Columbia University).

Strong networks between social circles, or bridging social capital, allow information about health, employment, and community services to flow more effectively through a community. Strong networks of social capital also contributes to our trust. That is, our general trust in others like our colleagues, and especially our trust in our neighbors. Without trust, collaboration is virtually impossible. Since community well-being plays such a vital role in our health, happiness, economic sustainability, and our ability to collaborate to solve local issues, the Wellness Institute has made measuring social capital a key priority so our community can manage and improve our stock of social capital. Buffalo is indeed in a renaissance, so growth must be done intelligently if we are to sustain our new found community strength. Buffalo is considered by many to be the “City of good neighbors.” In a lot of ways, this study is exploring this very notion. Given the amount of evidence in recent studies, living in an area with good neighbors is highly beneficial. Your well-being may even depend on it!

Starting the summer of 2015, the Wellness Institute and its partners have been promoting the pilot survey thru the above link on their website (www.CreatingHealthyCommunities.org) and social media for members of the Greater Buffalo community to participate in this confidential survey. Mr. James Quinn (Initiative Director) and his partners have been hosting an information table at local events (Bidwell Farmers market, Wellness days). As an incentive for filling out the survey, the Wellness Institute will enter all participants in a drawing to win two season passes to Explore Buffalo (See www.ExploreBuffalo.org) .. The Wellness Institute Social Capital measurement team is asking the citizens of Greater Buffalo to complete this brief and confidential survey and share with others so that the Team may establish a community benchmark of social capital as well as an answer to our question “Are we the City of good neighbors?” The initial pilot survey period started July 6^th and ran until DECEMBER, 31, 2015. For more information or a speaker on social capital, please contact Mr. Quinn at the Wellness Institute (716)851-4052 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Thank You!

B-Well: City of Buffalo Wellness Program

Shifting any Community’s culture to one that supports regular physical activity and provides a more walkable environment for residents of all ages is an exciting and real civic challenge. Add in the elements of four very distinct weather seasons and you have an authentic test of community creativity and persistence. Impacting citizen regular physical activity at all life stages was one of the tall orders faced by the City of Buffalo New York’s “B-Well” Program and its’ many partners. Founded in 1989 the B-WELL program is managed for the City by the non-profit Wellness Institute of Greater Buffalo, “B-Well” made its’ first strategic decision to improve regular physical activity in the City’s older adult population. Successfully launching, in the Spring of 1992, the City’s first ever “Golden Years” Wellness Walk in the Park (Buffalo is blessed with a fabulous Olmsted park system) started the movement of the walking program. The initial Spring walk was expanded to a full series of Fall park walks (with their beautiful colors!) and into a Winter season of indoor walks in area malls and back into our County Parks the following Spring. Years later, with the growth of the City’s Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, we added the dimension of noontime Summer guided walks for employees and visitors to the Medical Campus. By 2007, “B-Well”s first humble Golden Years walk had turned into a year-round “Be Active” series of walks featuring multiple partners and opportunities for persons of all ages to gain the benefits of regular physical activity through its’ most popular (and least expensive) form : WALKING! But wait – our journey does not end there, as we added the Walk Your Children to School initiative to our menu. A City Bike/Pedestrian Committee was formed, Complete Streets legislation was passed and in 2014 a “metric” was added by counting the steps taken by the participants in the 50+ walks. “B-Well” and the Wellness Institute coordinates with their partners in the “City of Good Neighbors” and the County of Erie, New York. Leading the way to 10 Million Plus steps counted in 2014 was Wellness Institute Affiliate Explore Buffalo, which provides the Community with wonderful “walking” tours of Buffalo’s outstanding architecture and history. In 2015, “B-Well” and the Wellness Institute had set a Community goal of 15 million steps. January 2016 data compliatin totaled over 34 Million steps recorded with an ever growing Explore Buffalo again leading the way! For 2016 an ambitious GOAL Of 40 Million steps has been established In addition to the Be Active walks, local runs and walks are invited to add their steps into the 40 million steps goal. With all our partners (Incuding REFRESH magazine) and improving environmental support(new trails opening Spring 2016 in Tonawanda and North Buffalo), (and those branding Buffalo, New York as the best designed city in America), we are confident that our shared Vision of more physical activity and a more walkable and bikeable City and region is in the process of achievement.