Blue Zones Project Names City Hall its First Approved Government Worksite in Riverside

City Hall is now the first government workplace in Riverside to be designated a Blue Zones Project Approved Worksite. Officials held a ribbon-cutting Wednesday, unveiling a new employee "downshift space" on the second-floor walkway between City Hall and the parking garage.

The downshift space has been furnished with seating, plants, and healthy snacks, where employees can decompress and connect.

"Well-being should be accessible to everybody," Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said at Wednesday's event.

City Manager Mike Futrell said the investment in employee health is a practical one. "Focusing on employee well-being actually improves worksite outcomes," he said. "Healthy employees are excited to come to work. Excitement fuels more creativity and collaboration."

Erin Edwards, executive director of Blue Zones Project Riverside and a former Ward 1 councilmember who knows the building well, called it a reflection of the city's priorities. "City Hall is invested in the health and well-being of our city employees — the people who day-to-day do such hard work for the residents of Riverside," Edwards said in a videoposted to the organization's Instagram account Wednesday.

The worksite approval came through Blue Zones Project Riverside, a five-year public-private partnership the City Council endorsed in August 2024. The project is fully funded through a coalition of sponsors including IEHP, IEHP Foundation, Molina Healthcare, Eisenhower Health, Kaiser Permanente, Riverside University Health System – Public Health, the County of Riverside and the City of Riverside.

Rikki Hubbard, organization and wellbeing lead for Blue Zones Project Riverside, said the effort focuses on the places where residents spend most of their time — schools, worksites, and places of necessity like grocery stores and restaurants — aiming to make healthy choices, as she put it, "the unavoidable choice."

The Riverside Airport Cafe became the first Riverside restaurant to earn a Blue Zones designation last year. Phenix Technology, a Riverside-based manufacturer, was the first worksite of any kind in the city to earn the designation, Edwards said.

The process begins with a menu of best practices tailored to each type of location. Organizations identify what they're already doing and work with the Blue Zones team to close the gaps.

The designation also requires that 25% of employees participate in at least one Blue Zones activity. At City Hall, that included a Halloween trail mix event where a different ingredient was staged outside each floor's stairwell, drawing employees to climb the building floor by floor to collect ingredients — encouraging movement and connection along the way.

Among the other changes made at City Hall under the Blue Zones framework: screen savers on all City computers now feature "box breathing" prompts — inhaling, holding, exhaling, holding — to reduce stress; and Blue Zones-designated parking spots were installed to nudge employees toward additional steps during the workday.

"It has been a true honor to walk this approval journey with you," Hubbard said.

Edwards, whose office is housed in the Historic Riverside Ironworks Building — a 100-year-old landmark downtown — said her office was designed with the same principles in mind. She said team members regularly choose to come in on their hybrid days. "We've created a space where they feel most productive and enjoy connecting with each other," Edwards said. "And for me, that says so much."

For those working from home, Edwards said the same principles apply — stepping outside for five minutes of sun, taking a lunch break away from the desk, or eating in a different room rather than returning to the computer.

City Hall's designation brings the total number of Blue Zones-approved worksites in Riverside to eight, Edwards said. The program has also certified three local restaurants and expects to certify its first grocery store by the end of March.

More Information: Employers interested in pursuing Blue Zones worksite approval can submit an interest form through the Blue Zones Project Riverside website.