UGA Extension Banner Program
• Two-thirds of the state’s adults and near 40
percent of Georgia’s children are overweight or
obese; wellness and obesity in Georgia is an issue
relevant to the entire state population
• Create program for simultaneous, statewide
delivery
• Engage communities
• Change sedentary lifestyles
• Reduce rates of preventable disease
• 45,000 participants and more than 4 million miles
of physical activity logged since 2008
What is Walk Georgia?
• Free, Web-based program with open, year-round
registration and participation beginning this fall
• Log and track physical activity data online; wide range
of activity to choose from (and list is growing!)
• Activity earns points, and points allow you to virtually
walk the state
• Reporting data available
• Promotion materials and incentive items available
• Walk Georgia publishes a blog and weekly newsletter
with recipes, state park information, website and app
reviews, and articles on health and wellness topics by
Extension personnel.
• Social media presence
Partnership with The Coca-Cola
Foundation
• Established in 2008, Walk Georgia received a boost
from The Coca-Cola Foundation in 2013, when a
partnership was formed with Walk Georgia through a
three-year, $1 million grant to support the program.
• Goals are to (1) reach 100,000 Georgians over the
next three years and (2) to decrease obesity by 5
percent in all of the state’s 159 counties.
• “Supporting Walk Georgia is another example of CocaCola’s commitment to help people lead active, healthy
lifestyles,” said Lori George Billingsley, vice president
of community relations, Coca-Cola North America.
“This commitment starts with our home state of
Georgia.”
New website features
• Updated website look and feel, as well as a new logo
• Website scales to mobile devices
• Move to points rather than miles “walked” to account
for non distance-based activities, like weight lifting
• Join and interact through social media
• Move to year-round availability, but state-level Walk
Georgia administration will maintain two, 12-week
community sessions annually
• Makes a great worksite wellness program! Flexibility
for schools, businesses, organizations to create their
own sessions
• Flexible group sizes with infinite layers of subgroups
Timeline
• The program began its pilot phase in the
summer and fall of 2014.
• The new website will debut in February
2015.
• More aspects of the new website, like the
map, will be rolled out later in 2015.
Contact us!
• Maria Bowie, Walk Georgia program
director, can be reached at 706-542-3908
or mbowie@uga.edu.
• The help desk is always available by
emailing walkga@uga.edu.