In broad terms, our vision is to create a world in which healthy lifestyles are encouraged and reinforced in all settings including schools, workplaces, faith communities, neighborhoods, homes, health care organizations, and others; health promotion concepts are integrated into all health professions, including exercise science, health education, medicine, nutrition, nursing, psychology, and others; and that these influences reach people of all ages, gender, social strata, and race.

This vision has emerged during the past two years of work with almost two dozen professional associations which represent those settings, professions, and populations. Our 2002 conference¹ devoted most of its sessions to articulating this vision, and a forthcoming special issue of our journal² will provide a written statement of this vision. We fully recognize that the vision is incomplete; we still need to hear from people representing additional professional disciplines and settings. In fact, the process of articulating the vision will be on-going over a number of years. Nevertheless, the vision is sufficiently clear that we can start to plot the path from the world in which we now live to the world we hope to create. We need to start the journey along that path.

How does one transform a vision of this magnitude into reality? That is the next big question we must answer.

Public policy, and the political advocacy required to shape public policy, are a big part of the process. We have concentrated our early efforts on political advocacy for this reason. Our first step was to introduce health promotion resolutions in the U.S. Senate (S. Con. Res. 11) and the U.S. House (H. Res. 115) as a way to educate Congress on the benefits of health promotion, educate ourselves about the advocacy process, and build our advocacy network. Our second step (expected in the 2nd quarter of 2002) is to introduce the Health Promotion Research Act which is designed to provide funding and authority to develop the basic and applied science of health promotion. Our third step is to figure out "What's Next?"....what major issue should we next advocate in Congress to lead us closer to our vision? (See www.HealthPromotionAdvocates.org for more details.)

If we can successfully stimulate health promotion professionals to become politically active, we have a very good chance of changing public policy in the ways we have proposed. If this happens, health promotion will become an important part of health care in the United States, and the health of the nation will improve. This success will also significantly enhance our political clout and self-confidence and better position us to tackle larger issues. Political advocacy is a necessary but insufficient part of transforming our vision into reality. It can provide the resources we need to refine our science base, train new and existing practitioners and scientists, and help policy makers understand the benefits of health promotion. It can also create a demand for health promotion procedures and programs by requiring them in some situations, funding them in others, and giving them credibility in still others.

Abundant resources, strong demand, and legitimacy will enable us, but then the hard work starts; we still have to develop the procedures, train the professionals to make our programs work, and build a health promotion infrastructure. What must we do to achieve this goal? That is the next big question we must answer.

Our February 17-21, 2003, Art and Science of Health Promotion Conference will be held in Washington, D.C., and the theme will be "Transforming the Vision into Reality." Our focus will be answering the bigger question, "What, including political advocacy, must we do to transform the vision into reality?" Political advocacy, including visits to Capitol Hill, will be a big part of the conference.

I encourage you to plan to attend this conference. For more details, see the Call for Proposals on page 248 of this issue, and our web site www.HealthPromotionConference.org.