Healthy Auburn for Life. That's the vision of the new Blue Ribbon Committee of Auburn tasked to make Auburn the healthiest city in Washington by 2020.

The committee's mission is to optimize the health and well being of all residents through education, participation and innovation.

Of the nine major health issues identified by the committee, three have been chosen as a primary first focus to analyze and develop plans for improvement: obesity in adults and children; maternal and child health; and behavioral/mental health, stress and substance abuse (including tobacco use).

Efforts for the initiative began last year when Mayor Nancy Backus reviewed new data on the health of Auburn residents in the 2015-16 King County Community Health Needs Assessment. According to the assessment, Auburn was the most negatively impacted community in regards to health, housing and economic opportunity measures. Most concerning was that South King County showed life expectancies 13 years shorter than other areas of the county while having the highest percentages of mental health distress, adverse childhood experiences, smoking, obesity, diabetes, low income and unemployment.

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