Write a new simple attractive title based on the title from Rio Grande Valley could be Blue Zones’ largest project and dont use quote marks

After a six-month assessment, Methodist Healthcare Ministries (MHM), in partnership with Blue Zones, an organization dedicated to creating healthier communities, are sharing findings and discussing next steps in the process.

The two organizations partnered earlier this year to launch Blue Zones Ignite, which evaluated four cities across Hidalgo County including McAllen, Mission, Pharr and Edinburg with the goal of launching a Blue Zone in one of the cities.

Blue Zones use an evidence-based environmental approach to help make healthy choices the easier choice in areas where most people spend their time.

Jaime Wesolowski, president and chief executive officer for MHM of South Texas, explained that the Blue Zone team has been collecting data at each of the four cities including stakeholder interviews, focus groups, tours of the area and have met with elected officials throughout the assessment to determine which cities are ready to undergo a Blue Zone transformation.

Throughout that time, MHM also conducted data research on the well being of each of the cities and the Rio Grande Valley as a whole which was presented to each respective city this week at community readout events.

As it turns out, the Valley surpassed expectations as all four cities passed the assessment.

“The Rio Grande Valley is as perfect of a demonstration site as anywhere,” said Dan Buetter Jr., chief development officer for Blue Zones. “It’s not perfect, there’s some headwinds, but there’s some low hanging fruit that we think positions the RGV as a one of a kind demonstration for the rest of Texas and the rest of the nation.”

Although the plan initially was to launch a Blue Zone in one of the four cities, Wesolowski explained that with all four cities passing the assessment they are now looking at potentially launching seven Blue Zones across the Valley as it has also piqued the interest of the Lower Valley.

Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation and Knapp Community Care Foundation are looking to fund assessments for Brownsville, Harlingen and Weslaco.

“Now instead of looking at just one city it’s possible that we could do Blue Zones in seven cities in the Rio Grande Valley,” Wesolowski said, adding that in order to make that a reality they need to allocate the necessary funding.

So what’s the next step?

Wesolowski explained to move forward with the project the three foundations will be contributing half of the necessary funding and will be seeking sponsors to collect the remainder.

However, it is unclear how much funding is needed to launch a Blue Zone in each of the cities.

If all the funding is collected and the project is able to move forward it will be “the single largest blue zone demonstration ever done anywhere in the world,” according to Buettner Jr.

For Wesolowski, the zones would not just be a positive change for the Valley but rather a stepping stone for the rest of the country.

“I think it’s going to be truly transformational for the RGV and we can really be a role model for the rest of the country,” Wesolowski said. “There’s a lot of encouragement, a lot of engagement, you know, the city leaders, the community really wants to get healthier and that’s all incredibly positive.”

Buettner Jr. echoed similar sentiments.

“America needs the RGV to be this next big demonstration,” Buettner Jr. said.

The “One Valley Vision,” as Wesolowski proudly dubbed the project, will take place over the course of five years with Blue Zones launching in each city at separate occasions.

Although there is no plan set in stone just yet, Wesolowski explained that they would most likely start the project with two of the original four cities in Hidalgo County in the fall and later moving on to starting up the Blue Zones in another city in the spring followed by the remaining cities in the summer.

Wesolowski explained they’ve already met with potential sponsors and city officials including Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez, Edinburg Mayor Omar Ochoa, and Mission Mayor Norie Gonzalez Garza, as well as representatives from Pharr, Brownsville and Harlingen.

“We’re hoping that funding will not be a problem, so assuming it’s not we’ll go through and choose the first two cities to get started in October, November the latest,” Wesolowski said.

Once the funding is collected, the Blue Zones team will come in, and over a nine month foundation period to hire about 22-25 full-time employees from the Valley for the project.

Among the hires will be an executive director, people leads, places leads and policy leads to create a blueprint with the help of a critical mass of people, places and policies to make the healthier choice the easier choice.

“ (They will be) certifying in approving a critical mass of places, restaurants, churches, schools, grocery stores, workplace, and partnering with policy makers to pass permanent and semi permanent built environment wins, and food system wins,” Buettner Jr. said via text. “It’s not a silver bullet. It’s a silver buck shot across people, places and policy that the local team together with Blue Zones, the steering committee in the community, will push forward over a period of five or six years.”

They will also be bringing in Gallup, Inc, a multinational analytics and advisory company, to compile a strong baseline of data to measure the progress over the course of the project.

“This is a chance for us all to be better ancestors … this is something that would be truly transformational for our kids and grand kids and for future generations, so I just think this is an incredible opportunity,” Wesolowski said.