The IT'S TIME TEXAS Community Challengeis a free, statewide competition. Communities, school districts, and colleges compete to demonstrate their commitment to healthy living. Mayors, schools, businesses, students, adults, and others try to make healthier choices. Those choices earn points for their cities and towns. The winning community in each category receives funds to put toward future community health efforts. IT’S TIME TEXAS Community Challenge began in 2012 and continues to the present.
Program Success
- Collectively, participants lost a total of over 6,600 pounds.
- Mayors from 42 communities signed pledges to improve local health efforts.
- Over 2,400 healthy activities occurred at schools and workplaces in communities across the state.
- Over 21,000 people participated from 209 Texas communities.
- For some goals, over 70% of participants reported making progress or meeting goals (see evaluation information below).
Participant Story
Elma from Harlingen shared her experience with the Community Challenge. "I am diabetic and need to exercise and lose weight in order to get my diabetic numbers under control...My family has rallied behind me and they have actually set up walking challenges for us to meet together. I like most that the Community Challenge brings about unity and the accountability. Because I'm exercising, being physically active, and eating healthy I am more energetic and aware. Before, I was always tired and didn’t have much energy after work to do anything. Now, I will either go workout, do yard work or go walking."
Elma updated the IT’S TIME TEXAS team towards the end of the Community Challenge. She said, "I want you to know that my numbers have gone down into the pre-diabetic numbers. Yeah!!! I’m still diabetic, but slowly but surely this challenge has helped me stay on track in eating better and exercising more, hence giving me lower blood sugar levels. I’m on my way to success! Thank you for all you do for us."
For more personal success stories: https://itstimetexas.org/communitychallenge/
Participant Quotes
“Because I travel for work, I have looked for ways to exercise while I’m away, something I didn’t make time for before the challenge. By participating, I am pushing myself to get moving every day. No excuses!” – Wendy, Webberville
“Since being in the challenge my activity level has changed weekly by 50%; now I truly walk and participate in exercise activities more. Because I’ve started the new healthy habit of eating better and being more active (cardio line dancing) I’m now able to rest better at night and have more energy during the day!” - Donna, Lancaster
I’ve always been into exercising, but my eating habits were horrible. I found myself complaining about not seeing results. The challenge motivated me to work harder. I wanted to earn points for my school district, but now after being part of the challenge I am working towards a better me. I find that exercising and eating the right foods really promotes a positive mind. Knowing that I can help out my school district/community and myself at the same time is a wonderful thing.” – Patricia, Port Isabel
Program Evaluation
The program success is Success of Community Challenge is measured by meeting impact goals, and identifying year-over-year increase in participation. It is also measured by progress toward and intent to continue health efforts initiated by Community Challenge. Survey respondents indicated whether they had made progress toward or met various health goals:
- 55% improved for losing weight
- 74% improved for eating healthier
- 79% improved for being more active
- 21% improved for getting more sleep
- 10% improved for a self-set goal of some other type.
Additionally, people’s average confidence to maintain their progress varied by goal between 6.7 to 8.2 on a scale of 1 to 10.
This post was submitted by IT’S TIME TEXAS, an implementing agency of SNAP-Ed. For more information, please contact Coco Plunkett.