About the Keystone Active Zone Passport

The Keystone Active Zone (KAZ) Passport is a FREE program that anyone, of any age or ability, can use to get outside and active at close-to-home parks, trails, guided walks and hikes, and free outdoor events over the spring and summer seasons.  Luzerne County's outdoor resources offer a wide variety of recreational opportunities for all.  Many of the parks and trails are accessible for those with physical challenges; the events are free and most stops are within an hour's drive for most county residents.

The 2011 KAZ Passport has 30 "passport stops"; all local parks, trails and events.  Registered participants recive a KAZ Passport and a Personal KAZ Passport Log.  Once registered, participants can visit as many stops as they wish and earn awards as they gather and log the answers to each stop's scavenger hunt question listed on the KAZ Passport or provided at events and walks.  The more stops visited and successfully logged,  the greater the opportunity to win prizes and earn awards. 

Have fun, start exploring Luzerne County's great outdoors today!  

HISTORY & PURPOSE:

Luzerne County's Keystone Active Zone (KAZ) Passport Program began in 2007 and is coordinated by a coalition of more that 75 partners working to:

• Build awareness of the important link between outdoor recreation and health
• Increase the use of close-to-home outdoor resources by county residents and visitors
• Promote the value of out-door recreation resources as essential to economic development and building community pride.

The local effort was part of a larger, statewide initiative funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and coordinated by Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Activity (PANA)*, the state's first effort to stimulate community and school program  and policy changes that support active living and improve nutrition in order to reduce and prevent obesity and its related health risks.  PANA is now housed in the Center for Nutrition and Activity Promotion at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital.  

Today, Luzerne County's KAZ program is coordinated by three local Sponsor Partners:

1. The Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails
2. The Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA ACHIEVE Project
3. Live Well Luzerne County

KAZ also receives the support of more than 75 Funding, Media, Prize and Planning Partners who all work together to make active living the easy choice by connecting people to their local outdoor resources.

Funding for the Keystone Active Zone is provided by the Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA's ACHIEVE project, the Wilkes-Barre City Health Department, and the Luzerne County Convention and Visitor's Bureau.

* PANA is now housed in the Center for Nutrition and Activity Promotion at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital: www.nrgbalance.org. 

STATE & NATIONAL RECOGNITION 

Programs that encourage use of outdoor recreational resources, such as the KAZ Passport, have begun to be used as positive approaches communities can take toward improving population health.  Luzerne County's program has received state and national recognition.

• Northeast Pennsylvania Environmental Partners Award.  The KAZ Passport program was awarded this honor in 2010 by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council.  The award recognizes individuals and/or organizations that demonstrate excellence in environmental protection or conservation and the important quality of working successfully in partnership with others.

• Pennsylvania's 2009-2013 Statewide Outdoor Recreational Plan (SCORP):  This plan sited Luzerne County's program as a successful example of an effort to create new community  partnerships at the county level that involve public health, recreation and education professionals working to improve awareness and use of close-to-home recreation resources that has measurable outcomes. 

• American Journal of Preventive Medicine: December 2009:  The Luzerne County KAZ program was featured in the article: Promoting and Developing a Trail Network Across Suburban, Rural and Urban Communities, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM) supplement to its December 2009, Volume 37, Issue 6; a special issue devoted to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundations' Active Living by Design (ALbD) national program, it's community action model and  partnerships and lessons learned from fifteen ALbD communities across the United States.  

• Action Communities for Health, Innovation and Environmental Change (ACHIEVE):  In 2009, Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County's largest city and county seat, was selected to participate in the Center for Disease Control's new Healthy Communities Program.  The Wilkes-Barre YMCA , with the support of Live  Well Luzerne County, a broad based community health promotion coalition that includes the more that 70 KAZ   Passport partners, was one of 40 grantees nationally which are funded to use proven programs and policy change strategies to improve health.  The KAZ Passport is proven to increase access to daily physical activity.