California's Santa Clara County plans to spin a one-year grant from the new federal healthcare law into PR gold as it searches for an agency to guide communications and media for an anti-obesity campaign.

The county issued an RFP July 5 to hire a firm with $259K in funds from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant issued through the Prevention and Public Health Fund created under the Affordable Care Act, the 2010 healthcare law championed by the White House.

More than half of adults and a quarter of middle and high school students in the region are either overweight or obese, according to a 2010 report by the county, which encompasses about 1.8M people in the south end of the San Francisco Bay area.

The RFP calls for a comprehensive communications and media plan to support the county health department's obesity prevention efforts. The goals range from influencing transportation policy to include more walking and biking access, to increased access and encouraging consumption of more healthful food and beverages.

Earned media budget is recommended to be $110K while any media placements/buys are set at $149K, according to the RFP.

Deadline for proposals is July 26.

O'Dwyer's subscribers can download the RFP here.