Current Projects
Girls PLAY Project
The Girls PLAY Project (2023-2028) aims to develop an out-of-school sport-based program for girls living in Imperial Valley (IV), California. The purpose of Girls PLAY is to build confidence, support positive relationships, expose girls to many different sports, and support physical activity through games that are fun. Our long-term goal is to get girls excited about sports and being active, so we can support them in being active for life!
We are collaborating with community partners in Imperial Valley, including partners in Calexico, Holtville, and Brawley, California. We are currently completing Phase I of Girls PLAY, which included doing interviews with community members in Imperial Valley. Check back for updates in Fall 2025!
This work is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) (PI: Johnson, K01HL171860-01).
National Survey of Rural Youth Sports
In Spring 2025, we worked with a market research company to conduct a national survey of parents of rural youth ages 6-17. We are interested in understanding the challenges and opportunities for supporting youth sport and physical activity in rural communities. We asked parents about their attitudes and beliefs around youth sports, the support for youth sports within their community, and their child’s participation in sports.
We surveyed over 400 parents across the United States, and look forward to presenting the results. We plan to use these findings to inform strategies and programs that can support rural communities and families in keeping kids active and safe!
This work is funded by a Seed Grant from San Diego State University.
1000 Cities Challenge
The 1000 Cities Challenge is an ongoing project by the Global Observatory of Healthy and Sustainable Cities, with the goal of providing “open access, comparable and evidence-based data, scorecards, and reports on policy and spatial indicators of healthy and sustainable cities”.
Our team is currently working to provide policy and spatial indicators of healthy and sustainable urban environments for the city of San Diego. Our goal is to contribute to efforts to create a scorecard for the city, which can be used to support sustainability and health promotion efforts.
