By Melissa St. Aude | Casa Grande Dispatch
Casa Grande Mayor Bob Jackson was among 300 community lead- ers nationwide invited to Washing- ton, D.C., earlier this month for a mini-conference hosted by first lady Michelle Obama.
The event celebrated healthy strides made by communities through the Let’s Move Cities, Towns and Counties program.
During the event, two speakers recognized special efforts made in Casa Grande.
“Some of the things we are doing are leading the nation,” Jackson said. “We got a couple of shout-outs for that.”
One shout-out came when a presenter from the University of Washington unveiled results from a long-term study about longevity and obesity. The study showed color-coded county-by- county statistics for each state and Jackson said Pinal County stood out because it was the only dark blue county surrounded by a sea of red.
“Blue was good, red was bad,” he said. “We’re in the top 10 percent of the country for longevity and in the top 10 percent in the reduction of obesity.”
The other shout-out was from a speaker with the Department of Health and Human Services who acknowledged the efforts of Casa Grande elementary schools to offer a salad bar with every school lunch.
“It was fun to go and really informative,” Jackson said of the conference.
