November 2011
Let’s Move, Georgia Schools Challenge:
Schools Get Physically Active to "Move Your Body" Dance!

Students, teachers and school staff at Arbor Elementary School in Newnan, Georgia joined schools across the state in performing the "Move Your Body" dance during September as one of many strategies to combat childhood obesity. With some help from multi Grammy award winning Beyoncé Knowles, participants learned that physical activity can be fun, cool and hip!

The Department of Public Health, Nutrition and Physical Activity Initiative encourages all schools and communities to take part in the "Move Your Body" dance and physical activity as a lifetime healthy behavior change to prevent obesity and other chronic diseases. So get moving Georgia and Move Your Bodies! To learn more and see more videos of schools across the state engaging in this activity, click here.

October 2011
North and Central Georgia:
Farm to School programs making headlines

Over one million Georgia kids participate in the school lunch daily, unfortunately the meals must comply with the USDA nutrition standards, school cafeterias often rely on a la carte lines as a way of introducing fresh produce, due to the real and perceived challenges, time constraints, budget and lack of equipment or training of equipment. School Nutrition directors often can’t access the clarification needed on easy ways to introduce more fresh fruits and vegetables.

Georgia may rank 2nd in childhood obesity, but farm to school programs that address this critical issue are on the rise. Georgia Organics, a state-wide non profit dedicated to connecting Georgians with fresh, local food, is building these programs with strategic support from state agencies, as well as grassroots support from local school districts, farmers, teachers and community members. With the help of the Georgia Department of Public Health ARRA funded Communities Putting Prevention to Work grant, Georgia Organics is providing the training and support for teachers, farmers, cafeteria staff, and community members in Jackson and Bibb Counties to begin building the foundation of rural, comprehensive farm to school programs in Georgia.

September 2011
Empowering Youth to Make Healthy Living
Decisions in Their Community

Immigrants with low income often face multiple barriers when addressing issues of nutrition and physical activity. Through a planter gardening initiative and youth educational summer program, CPACS is working to improve access to healthy living opportunities for immigrants and others in the Chamblee/Doraville area. The most important success of the Grow Project thus far has been a heightened awareness of the impact of environmental change on personal and community health among the population of Chamblee/Doraville. By implementing surveys and asking for feedback on the project, CPACS is committed to tailoring programs based on the community’s needs and desires.

“If I didn’t have this summer program (CPACS’ Project Grow), I would be sitting at home playing video games all summer. We get to do fun things like play sports and go on field trips to the skating rink and the Oakhurst Community Garden.” –Randell (Middle School Student)

The Grow Project’s summer educational program has played a key role in keeping the youth active over the long summer months. It increased youth’s access to physical activity by designating time each day to outdoor sports and recreation. The project empowered youth to take pictures of their community to initiate social change as part of a PhotoVoice project. It also raised awareness about the importance of sustainable living and purchasing locally grown food.

The planter gardening component is stimulating the community’s interest in growing their own vegetables, as well as starting conversations among family members about healthy eating.

Five most important accomplishments:

• Planting the seeds of a community gardening initiative in the Chamblee/Doraville area. Being the first of its kind, this project has the potential to inspire other organizations in the area to think about the impact of gardening on our personal and community’s health.

• Establishing relationships with local organizations in relation to community gardening. By working together to achieve the same goal of increasing consumption of local produce, the results can have more impact.

• The distribution and maintenance of 50 planters has led to more conversations about vegetables among families.

• The completion of the community mapping component successfully trained the youth in this useful methodology.

• Exposing twenty middle school youth to health issues in their community and empowering them with a voice to incite change. The PhotoVoice project provided a forum for the youth to capture, through photography, the aspects of their community that they would and would not like to change.

This project is funded through a grant from the Georgia Department of Public Health’s Health Promotion Disease Prevention Programs’ CPPW American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Obesity initiative.

August 2011
Southwest Georgia: Improving Awareness and Access to Healthy Food through
Farmers Markets and Farm to School Education

The Federation of Southern Cooperatives, in partnership with East Baker Historical Society and the Southwest Georgia Project, has established farmers markets in Albany and Newton, Georgia, in locations where grocery stores are distant and difficult for low income families to reach to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables, which are major components of a healthy diet.

The farmers markets have increased availability of fresh produce and have provided an opportunity for local farmers to sell food they have produced and for start-up food entrepreneurs to sell their products, as well as creating several part-time jobs. Perhaps our most important accomplishment is attracting several hundred patrons to the Baker County market in a community of 4,000 people and attracting over 1,000 patrons in Albany to the downtown area, which lately has been little used on weekends. This high level of patronage gives everyone the confidence to devote efforts to selling and buying at the markets in the future. Learn about projects in your community.

July 2011
East Atlanta Village Farmers Market

Thanks to funding from the Department of Public Health’s Georgia Communities Putting Prevention to Work Grant, EAVFM is working with five community partners that serve different segments of the residents of the neighborhood: Burgess Peterson Elementary School; McNair High School; the East Atlanta Kids Club; Branan Towers Senior Center; and the Kirkwood Health Center. The lesson primarily focus on the following areas: maximizing SNAP and WIC benefits; food preparation; vegetable garden installation and training; and supplementary health and active wellness lessons.

Since being awarded the CPPW grant, the East Atlanta Village Farmers Market moved locations to double lot with more room for a special chef demo area and a community garden. The Market began our season on May 5th and runs through Thanksgiving. Thanks to the funding from the CPPW Grant, Chef Seth Freedman will be doing a chef demo at the EAV Farmers Market every Thursday this season. Chef Seth will be teaching how to cook in season, healthily and affordability. At these demos, Chef Seth uses only ingredients from the local vendors at the market. Additionally, we have been able to use funding towards building our Edible Learning Garden to teach easy and affordable urban gardening methods. Each week we offer free classes taught by community members on edible gardening, to date we have taught lessons on building raised beds, mulching, tomato cages, and composting. We also host regular walking tour of the fruit and nut trees of East Atlanta and a weekly free yoga class. Thanks to the funding from the CPPW Grant, the EAV Farmers Market has seen our most successful few weeks in history!

June 2011
HABESHA Gardens

HABESHA works to create opportunities to engage residents in a grassroots approach to community development whereby interested participants can gain skills and training in an emerging green industry while accessing healthy organically grown food. Through this program, residents are encouraged to participate in the development of a local food economy and learn to support their community through the cultivation of food. The objectives of this work include the following:

1. To increase accessibility to healthy and affordable produce in Mechanicville and Pittsburgh and surrounding NPU-V communities by offering training opportunities that improve residents’ ability to grow organic foods.

2. Expand educational programs and recreational activities offered to youth attending local neighborhood schools.

May 2011
Truly Living Well

Founded in 2006, Truly Living Well (TLW), a 501c3, has been providing the East Point and Atlanta Community with organically grown vegetables and fruits directly from its Certified Organic Grown farm. TLW grows 20,000 pounds of vegetables, fruits and herbs annually without the use of chemicals, pesticides, herbicides and other substances on small plots of land donated within the City of Atlanta. The Company has developed strong support among consumers, institutions and community advocates not only for its vision, but most satisfyingly for the superior quality food it makes available to underserved residents.

The founder, Rashid Nuri, is seeing his vision for TLW come full circle after 40 years of experience in food production and distribution in more than 35 countries. Rashid has identified three high priority needs for TLW:

• A return to natural and sustainable production methods that deliver higher quality food to enhance the environment and improve human health.

• A return of food as a central focus in family and community life.

• Development of infrastructure to support the growth of local food production and distribution.

As a Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) Grantee, TLW will be able to increase the production and distribution of wholesome food for the Atlanta Community; and provide training and educational opportunities to local farmers, volunteers and students.

TLW’s newest project is the Wheat Street Garden, an 8 acre self sustained organic farm/park and training center located in the Historic Old 4th Ward near the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center in downtown Atlanta. The project's mission is to use urban agriculture to develop healthier communities and improve the environment through quality food production. For more information, please visit www.trulylivingwell.com.