Kennesaw Council Member Attends National Walking Summit

Kennesaw Council Member Cris Welsh joined community and organizational leaders from across the nation in Washington, D.C., Oct. 1-3, for the 2013 Walking Summit hosted by Kaiser Permanente and the Every Body Walk! Collaborative. 

The Summit brought together more than 375 Every Body Walk! partners, nonprofits, civic and business leaders to share their thoughts and take aligned action. 

It featured dialogue sessions, presentations and walking meetings, all centered on a shared agenda to boost the prevalence of walking and to create more walkable cities and communities.

Featured speakers included U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin (2009 to 2013); Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray; Bipartisan Policy Center fellow Dan Glickman; director of the Washington, D.C. Office of Planning, Harriet Tregoning; New York Times best-selling author Jonah Berger; and Kaiser Permanente chairman George Halvorson.

“The walking movement is continuing to build and gain momentum. That provides us with a great opportunity to incorporate walking activities into our Fit City Kennesaw initiative,” said Council Member Welsh. “According to a recent survey, Americans know that walking has excellent health benefits, but most people aren’t doing it enough to see those benefits in their lives.”

Kaiser Permanente sponsored and participated in the Walking Summit and to encouraged participants to take the knowledge gained back to their communities and organizations to continue efforts to get more people walking (and rolling) and make communities safer and fitter.

by city of Kennesaw