Blue Zones founder Dan Buettner and one of the key facilitators of the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project are offering to come back to Albert Lea during the next year to 18 months to boost the city’s vitality efforts.

Buettner, a National Geographic explorer, and Joel Spoonheim, director of the new Vitality City initiative put on by Blue Zones and Healthways, extended the offer Tuesday night in front of the Albert Lea City Council and the National Vitality Center board of directors.

The offer comes about two years after the close of Albert Lea’s 10-month pilot Vitality Project, which aimed to help residents live longer, healthier lives.

“It may not be quite the tsunami as the first year we were here, but we think we can facilitate a few things that may have fallen off track, add some new things, add some measurement tools and quite frankly bring more national attention,” Buettner said.

He noted he and Spoonheim will be available to meet with the board of directors at least quarterly for strategic planning and to host a community rally or kickoffs to increase excitement for vitality initiatives. They’d also be willing to help bring national experts back to the city to provide assistance or guidance for the city’s downtown redevelopment project, for example.

“We’ll come down here as much as we can to help launch things, celebrate things,” Buettner said. “I’m excited to come back if we can make a difference. I would like to think about how we can become a national symbol for changing environments.”

Part of the arrangement would also involve helping local vitality leaders come up with a plan for the city to become a Blue Zones-certified city under recently developed criteria. Though the city was already given the status of a Blue Zones-certified city at the end of the Vitality Project, the criteria has become more specific and objective.

If the city could complete this, it could also have more of the rights involved with having this identification.

“It’s you guys coming down here two years after the fact to provide that little shot of adrenaline,” said 2nd Ward Councilor Larry Baker. “I appreciate that you’re still interested, to put this forth and offer it to the city.”

Buettner, a New York Times best-selling author, has traveled the world learning from areas where people are living the longest, healthiest lives.

He brought the research he gained from experiences in the world’s Blue Zones, or areas where people are living the longest, healthiest lives to Albert Lea during the Vitality Project

The project encouraged simple environmental changes and healthy decisions such as dining from smaller plates, building more sidewalks, growing food in gardens and having healthy choices on local menus.

By the end of the local project, a web survey showed participants had gained an average of three years life expectancy, a result which numerous national publications and researchers deemed a success.

Albert Lea has since become an example for other cities wishing to engage in a similar effort.

Though the vitality efforts have continued in the time since, vitality leaders have admitted that much of the work done has been quieter, more behind the scenes.

“We are struggling a little bit as a group to maintain our energy to move forward,” said Albert Lea Mayor Vern Rasmussen.

He said though he knows the city’s residents have made great changes and that there has been a change in the way of life of many in the community, he was energized by Buetter and Spoonheim’s idea.

Baker asked Buettner and Spoonheim how they viewed the community now two years after the project had ended.

Spoonheim said while things have been going well, there’s still room for more to be done.

Spoonheim talked about some of the criteria Albert Lea would need to obtain, including completing another community project, leveraging communiations with residents, getting more resaurants certified under new criteria, meeting with the school district, facilitate an updated employer pledge and adding 200 new people to the walking moai program.

Buettner said more of a focus would be placed on measurements this time and would include a potential survey through Healthways or Gallop.

While several city councilors and others in attendance expressed support for the ideas, the group is expected to talk about the decision during an upcoming meeting.