How can Hamilton Public Health effectively reach and engage parents and caregivers to share information and encourage active transportation among children, youth, and families?
Project Description: Hamilton Public Health Services’ Chronic Disease Prevention Program coordinates a comprehensive Active Travel Strategy with interventions that span community, school, and workplace settings. Based on past research, a parent/caregiver engagement component to active school travel programs has been shown to increase the likelihood of success and sustainability. Hamilton Public Health is looking to revive and expand a parent/caregiver engagement strategy to support the Active and Sustainable School Travel program that broadens channels for parent/caregiver communications and engagement outside of the school setting. The potential research may include data collection from parents/caregivers to understand preferred communication channels, a digital engagement scan to analyze how parents/caregivers search for parenting and/or health information, and a case study comparisons to review communications used by other communities for similar initiatives.
The project outcome may include the development of a framework for communication tactics that can be used by Hamilton Public Health’s Active Travel Strategy to enhance communications with parents starting in the 2026-2027 school year.
City Staff: Heather McCully, Healthy and Safe Communities Department
Deliverables: Primary and Secondary research
Project Start Date/ Availability: Winter 2026
Location: City Wide
City Strategy Priority: Healthy and Safe Communities