Background:
Young Latinas in Southwest Santa Rosa have personal and environmental risk factors that make them vulnerable to obesity. The Latina teen birth rate in this community is one of the highest in the state. Additionally fetal death reviews reveal a relationship between fetal deaths and obesity in Latinas. A community team participating in the CityMatCH Healthy Weight in Women of Reproductive Age Action Learning Collaborative is working to build local capacity to address this issue in conjunction with the efforts of the local Community Activity and Nutrition Coalition (CAN-C), which was recently awarded a five-year Kaiser Permanente grant to reduce overweight and obesity.

Objectives:
1) Increase optimal nutrition and physical activity promotion by reproductive health professionals and community outreach workers in Sonoma County.
2) Increase access to and consumption of nutritious foods for women of childbearing age in Southwest Santa Rosa.
3) Increase opportunities for physical activity for Latinas ages 13 – 21 in Southwest Santa Rosa.

Methods:
1) Provide reproductive health care providers with training to develop brief negotiation skills, and tool kits to effectively counsel patients on nutrition and active living for achieving healthy weight.
2) Integrate the concepts of healthy weight and reproductive health into training for community Promotoras.
3) Partner with Girl Scouts and other community organizations to increase exposure of young Latinas to fresh fruits and vegetables thru farmer's markets and shopping/cooking classes.
4) Engage local youth in identifying ways to increase access and participation in physical activity.

Results:
Project was launched in Fall 2006. Implementation of Objectives 1 & 2 began in Summer 2007. Methods for Objective 3 are still being developed. Results pending.

Conclusion and implications for practice:
Interventions to improve reproductive health outcomes must take place in conjunction with other community efforts toward obesity prevention.