A project run by the Montana Nutrition and Physical Activity (NAPA) Program with Montana State University’s Office of Rural Health is championing improvements to communities across Montana.

The Building Active Communities Initiative, or BACI, encourages towns to build walkable, bikeable communities that allow people to be physically active as they go about their lives. Accessible pathways that are both safe and attractive are a main feature of accomplishing this goal.

Summit’s Mary Millin is on one of the committees working on the BACI project, where she works alongside members of the Hamilton government. One of their first attempts to spruce up their neighborhood led to building a small, but pretty, park on a disused main street corner.

To find more out about BACI or to see if your town has a BACI committee, visit: http://dphhs.mt.gov/publichealth/NAPA/BACI.aspx.