We know that fresh fruits and vegetables are vital to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to buy and cook them. In fact, many urban areas are classified as food deserts, meaning that residents have to travel several miles to find stores that offer fresh produce and other healthy foods. If fresh produce is difficult to access, or only available from expensive health food stores, it is often more difficult to make healthy choices, and instead we often choose an easier, but less healthy option.

One way that many communities are trying to eliminate the barrier to healthy eating is by establishing local farmers’ markets. Wholesome Wave is a national non-profit organization that partners with farmers’ markets, community leaders, healthcare providers, and government entities to implement programs that benefit both consumers in underserved communities and the farmers who provide for them. They work to implement programs such as Double Value Coupon Program, which increases the value of federal nutrition benefits at participating farm-to-retail venues, ensuring that customers get more value from their money. Programs like these offer access to fresh, healthy foods for people who otherwise wouldn’t have it, and also provide a boost to the local economy by encouraging residents to buy foods that are produced locally rather than at a large supermarket chain. You can view the Double Value Coupon Program: 2011 Outcomes Report to see how the results of the program. The 2010 report Farmers’ Markets Initiatives: Promoting Fresh Fruits and Vegetables in Underserved Communities examines various strategies that the New York City Health Department implemented to improve access to fresh, locally grown produce through farmers’ markets, and the impact that the strategies had on the community.

Think about your community: do you live in a food desert? You can use the USDA’s Food Desert Locator to get a spatial overview of low-income neighborhoods with high concentrations of people who are far away from grocery stores in your area. Does your area already have a farmers’ market? Would there be interest in starting one? A farmers’ market is a great way to encourage healthy eating while providing an opportunity for community members to connect and socialize, while also supporting the local economy. If you’re interested in starting a farmers’ market in your community, but you’re not sure where to start, see Chapter 3: Assessing Community Needs and Resources for information on how to identify potential partners, and Chapter 4: Getting Issues on the Public Agenda for advice on how to inspire enthusiasm for the project. And sites like Fair Food Network provide useful resources on what is already working in communities across the nation.

 As you go through your day, you might think about what your next meal will be – you consider what type of food you’re in the mood for, how much time you have to make it, and what the healthiest options are.  But for some people, contemplating their next meal is not just a matter of what is most convenient or efficient, but whether they will be able to afford a meal at all.  In fact, 1 in 6 Americans experience food insecurity.

This Saturday, May 12, U.S. postal carriers are doing their part to fight hunger by picking up food donations at mailboxes nationwide. The food donations will go to local community food pantries, which often experience decreases in donations in times of economic uncertainty, even as there are more and more people in need of their services.

Interested in helping? You can do your part by collecting and bagging non-perishable food items, and placing them by your mailbox for your letter carrier to deliver to your local food bank or pantry. And be sure to Spread the Word! about this Saturday’s Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive by liking Stamp Out Hunger on Facebook and downloading a flyer to share on your Facebook page, or print out and post at work, at your place of worship, or in your neighborhood  to help get the word out and encourage everyone to do their part to Stamp Out Hunger!

To get the facts about U.S. hunger and learn how you can make a difference, visit Feeding America or Oxfam America. One of the most important things that you can do to help Stamp Out Hunger is keep the conversation going. Consider Writing a Letter to the Editor about local hunger or support for food assistance programs, or learn how to Lobby Decision Makers to support federal food assistance programs like SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), which serves more than 46 million Americans — more than half of which are children. There are always discussions taking place about where money can be saved in the federal budget, and it is important to make your voice heard and advocate to keep programs that provide vital assistance to those experiencing hunger in the United States.

Nearly 69% of American adults are overweight or obese, and it is the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Obesity contributes to five of the ten leading causes of death in America, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, stroke and kidney disease. These are some of the startling facts that HBO’s documentary The Weight of the Nation aims to highlight. The Weight of the Nation is a collaboration of HBO and the Institute of Medicine (IOM), in association with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) which takes an unflinching look at the severity of the obesity crisis in America and its crippling effects on our health care system.

May 1st kicks off the discussion with a Dialogue4Health Web Forum which will examine the key themes of The Weight of the Nation documentary and campaign. The discussion will explore what we are doing as a nation and what we can be doing better to fight this epidemic, including strategies for growing the healthier communities movement; mobilizing individuals, organizations, and partnerships; and building widespread support for environmental changes that support health. A list of presenters and additional information about the Web Forum is available here, and you can still register to attend the event, which begins at 1:00 ET/12:00 CT on May 1st.

As part of the Web Forum, HBO will present an 11 minute preview of The Weight of the Nation. The Weight of the Nation is a four-part documentary series, each featuring case studies, interviews with our nation’s leading experts, and individuals and their families struggling with obesity. The films will air on HBO May 14 and 15, with two parts each night. The first film, Consequences, examines the scope of the obesity epidemic and explores the serious health consequences of being overweight or obese. The second, Choices, reveals what science has shown about how to lose weight, maintain weight loss, and prevent weight gain. The third, Children in Crisis, uses individual stories to describe how forces at work in our society are causing children to consume too many calories and expend too little energy; it examines everything from school lunches, to the decline of physical education, the demise of school recess, and the marketing of unhealthy food to children. The fourth film, Challenges, examines the major driving forces causing the obesity epidemic, including agriculture, economics, evolutionary biology, food marketing, racial and socioeconomic disparities, physical inactivity, American food culture, and the strong influence of the food and beverage industry.

The Weight of the Nation is one of the most far-reaching public health campaigns on this epidemic to date, comprised of the four documentary films, a three-part series for families, 12 bonus shorts, a robust website and social media campaign, a book published by St. Martin’s Press, and nationwide outreach to more than 40,000 community-based organizations. For more information, visit The Weight of the Nation, or get updates from The Weight of the Nation on Facebook or on Twitter by following @WeightoftheNtn and using #weightofthenation to join the discussion.

For more information on how to take action and advocate for better health in your community, see the Community Tool Box for free resources and tools for change.

In our last post, we featured the release of the new County Health Rankings, and the Roadmaps to Health Action Center for key activities and tools for making progress. 

Exciting news! A series of upcoming webinars have been scheduled to highlight how you can use the Rankings to make progress on important community issues. Here’s more from the County Health Rankings team:

Take Action Webinar Series   

Learn how to improve the health of your community 
You have been asking:   

Thanks for the Rankings data, but…  

What next?  How can we use the Rankings to make an impact? How do we engage local leaders and stimulate action? How can we become a healthier place to live? Where do we start? What can I do?  

We have been listening, and we’re here to help! 

Beginning in May, we will host two webinars each month focused on a step in the Take Action Cycle. The first will provide an overview of the Action Step - what the step is, why it’s important, and how to apply it to your own work.

The second webinar will be limited to the first 40 registrants, and will be a more in-depth and interactive discussion of the Action Step.

Be sure to also check out the Roadmaps website to Build Your Roadmap, view the resources in our Action Center, and look at the Funding Guide. And learn more at these upcoming webinars — you can sign up for one topic or all of them.

Take Action Cycle Webinar Series – All on Tuesdays, 3-4pm EDT / 2-3pm CDT / 1-2pm MDT / 12-1pm PDT

Take Action Cycle Overview and Series Introduction – Tuesday, April 17 

Work Together – Tuesday, May 8

Work Together: In-depth & Interactive – Tuesday, May 22

Assess Needs & Resources – Tuesday, June 12

Assess Needs & Resources: In-depth & Interactive – Tuesday, June 26  

Focus on What’s Important – Tuesday, July 10

Focus on What’s Important: In-depth & Interactive – Tuesday, July 24   

Choose Effective Policies & Programs – Tuesday, August 14

Choose Effective Policies & Programs: In-depth & Interactive – Tuesday, August 28 

Act on What’s Important – Tuesday, September 11 

Act on What’s Important: In-depth & Interactive – Tuesday, September 25  

Evaluate Actions – Tuesday, October 9

Evaluate Actions: In-depth & Interactive – Tuesday, October 23     

Click on the link(s) above to register for these free webinars. Note: The “In-depth & Interactive” webinars will be limited to the first 40 people who register. There is no registration limit for the other webinars.

On April 3^rd you received your annual check-up of your community’s health — the 2012 County Health Rankings. You’ve had a chance to review what’s going well for your community and where you are lagging behind others. But now what? What can you do to make your community a healthier place?

Since the inaugural release of the County Health Rankings in 2010, hundreds of people have contacted us to ask these questions and we’ve directed them to our Take Action cycle. It’s a simple and straightforward process. Work with other key partners, because we know solving issues like poor high school graduation rates, unemployment, excessive drinking, unhealthy air, or inadequate health care require the wisdom and resources of people from all walks of life. Gather information. Set priorities. Find the most effective approaches to address your priorities and then just do it!

One day, I was talking with a concerned citizen who wanted to lead an effort to improve health in his lowest ranking county. We turned to a commonly referenced guide and when he saw it was 170 pages long, he decided this process was far too overwhelming to pursue. Like so many simple and straightforward processes, it can be challenging to know where to start and how to keep going when you get stuck. To help you overcome these obstacles, we’ve created the Roadmaps to Health Action Center—tools and consultation to guide you along the journey toward better health for your neighborhood, town, or county.

What will I find in the Action Center? For each of the six steps in the cycle — Work Together, Assess Needs & Resources, Focus on What’s Important, Choose Effective Policies & Programs, Act on What’s Important, and Evaluate Actions — you will find key activities and tools. By answering a short list of Getting Started questions, you will be guided to activities and tools that are matched with your community’s current progress and needs. The Action Center includes resources for those who are thinking about taking action, those who may have just started working together, and those who have some momentum but are looking for ways to enhance their efforts.

Web tools are great, but what if I have questions? Throughout the site, you will find road signs offering assistance from our team. We know it helps to have someone to consult with who can help you plan your next steps, trouble shoot when you get stuck, and motivate you when you lose energy. Our consultation can be delivered via email or telephone—whichever works best for you.

How can we learn from other communities? A new Take Action webinar series will explore practical ways to implement the cycle with your community members. Sign up here for the April 17^th session that will introduce you to the series. Each month a different step in the Take Action cycle will be explored. The webinars will include community members from around the nation sharing their stories about what worked well and what didn’t and follow up discussion webinars where participants can share their own lessons learned and challenges with each other.

Aren’t there lots of websites devoted to health? Why another? Yes. The Roadmaps to Health Action Center will link you with excellent tools from many different organizations. Our goal is to organize these tools in a way that makes your community’s journey to health improvement a simple and straightforward path, accessible to all.

Whether your community is ready for small steps or giant leaps, we are here to support you as you move down the road to health. Visit us, email us, call us, and let’s all work together to build a healthier nation, county by county.

Julie Willems Van Dijk RN PhD is the deputy director of the County Health Roadmaps project at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.

This post originally appeared on April 5, 2012 on the Improving Population Health blog

Why not start today?…

March 8th is International Women’s Day, a time to celebrate the profound impact that women have on the world, but also to reflect on the inequities and barriers that still exist for women across the globe. The theme of 2012’s International Women’s Day is “Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty.” According to the U.N., rural women and girls are one-fourth of the world’s population, yet they “routinely figure at the bottom of every economic, social and political indicator.” Girls in developing countries are still fighting for equal access to education, proper healthcare, and the ability just to have a voice in society.

Glenda Stone, founder of the International Women’s Day website notes that “The true depth that lies behind why this day is so powerful … should really only be measured by three things: the level of awareness increased globally for overcoming inequalities for women; the levels of action and finance that are allocated directly as a result of Women’s Day campaigning; and the decrease or eradication of inequalities against women worldwide.”  And this year, many websites are doing just that – using International Women’s Day to bring attention to important issues and advocate for equal rights for women and girls across the world.

Philanthroper, a website that re-imagines the idea of “daily deals” sites by introducing users to a different non-profit organization every day, is featuring Girl Up in honor of International Women’s Day. Girl Up is a campaign run by the UN Foundation, the US-based philanthropic arm of the United Nations, with the philosophy “If you want to empower a woman, start with a girl.” Girl Up connects girls in the US with their peers in the developing world; for instance, a girl in Colorado might find a way to supply school books to a girl in Guatemala, or a girl in Florida might secure better healthcare for a girl in Ethiopia. “We’re harnessing the passion of the girls in the US to raise awareness and funds for these girls in other countries,” says Communications Officer Andrea Austin.

To mark International Women’s Day, The Independent surveyed women’s status around the world based on 20 criteria including literacy, representation in politics, and access to education to determine “The Best and Worst Places to Be a Woman.” The results demonstrate that while gender equality has made great strides in recent years, there is still much progress to be made.

The Christian Science Monitor takes a look at International Women’s Day: How It’s Celebrated Around the Globe, and you can also visit the International Women’s Day Events page  to find information on events taking place around the world, and even upload details about events taking place in your own community.

How will you celebrate International Women’s Day? Is there an event planned in your community that you will be attending? Who are the women that have been influential in your life?

The bus’ wheels were a-turnin’ to the rhythm of our freedom songs.  They turned round, round, and round.  The bus’ wheels were a-rollin’ down the highway, spreading their story, our story.  They spun, spun, and spun around.  Those wheels were constantly turning, turning, and turning – a-takin’ us down South, our destination.

Image credit to pbs.org

I remember thinking about the notion of a destination as we pulled out of Anniston, Alabama.  50 years ago, Anniston was the site of the infamous bus burning.  A group of Klan members swarmed the Freedom Riders’ bus, setting fire to the Greyhound in an attempt to murder those in it. Luckily, no one was killed.

The bus incident in Anniston and the mob violence that ensued in Birmingham stunted the original riders’ mission.  They were forced to turn back and go home. In the end, the original 13 Freedom Riders never made it to New Orleans, their intended destination. (Little did they know that hundreds would follow them to complete their journey throughout the rest of the summer of 1961.) But when we pulled out of Anniston, I realized that I was going to be a part of something special. The original Freedom Riders on the bus would finally make it to New Orleans. They would finally reach their original destination. And who would be standing right next to them? Me.

The belief in a destination is seen throughout the African American Civil Rights Movement, most commonly conceptualized in the ideas of freedom and justice. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. often spoke of the “Beloved Community” as one of his ultimate destinations.  In the “Beloved Community,” the formerly oppressed seek to reconcile with their former oppressors. This community would become characterized by the ideals of justice, freedom, and unity. Dr. King’s “Beloved Community” and these principles have yet to be realized, but many of you readers are working on projects to ensure that these ideals come to light.

As we traveled through the South, the Student Freedom Riders realized that we should be working towards some sort of destination, yet we had trouble coming up with our own objective. We sought to find our own purpose. We searched for the current state of civic engagement. While we didn’t necessarily find the ultimate answer, I think we realized the necessity of putting the past into the context of today. Connections between the histories of our past, our actions in the present, and the events of the future literally became apparent as we revisited sites with our heroes. In this, we idealized our own destination, and we realized that our destination was much bigger than just making it to New Orleans anymore. We had to keep the wheels of change a-turnin’, a-rollin’, and a-takin’ us towards our own vision of the Beloved Community.

Written by Will Dale – 2011 Freedom Rider

She was the last person you’d expect to be the victim of domestic violence, but with her death, we learned that it could happen to anyone.  Her death was unexpected, startling, and shocking, yet she inspired a new movement to spread awareness about women’s rights and social justice issues. Her name was Jana Mackey, and her story is a narrative that starts with grief but ends with hope.

Jana was known for her work as an activist. Before she turned twenty-five, she had lobbied in front of the Kansas state legislature, served on the Kansas Commission on the Status of Women, served on the staff of state and national campaigns for female political candidates, and organized students to march for women’s rights in Washington D.C. She advocated for a pro-women’s agenda, and while at the University of Kansas, Jana volunteered at the GaDuGi Safe Center, a center for victims of sexual violence.

I had the chance to sit down with Jana’s parents, Curt and Christie Brungardt. They described the morning after they learned that Jana was found dead in her ex-boyfriend’s apartment in 2008. They described the range of emotions they felt the morning after.  In those moments, they were plagued with disbelief.  Six hours after they learned of their daughter’s death, however, they decided that her death would be the start of a movement.

They started the Eleven Hundred Torches Campaign, which encourages ordinary citizens to become extraordinary by serving others. They also began the Jana Mackey Distinguished Lecture Series to honor Jana’s story. I had the pleasure to attend the lecture this past October. The event featured Tony Porter, an educator and activist for over twenty years. Now, I can look to Jana’s story for inspiration and encouragement as we all fight for equality on multiple levels.

The bottom line is that as we work to better our communities, we are forced to deal with hardships. Community builders face adversity, yet we have to keep the end goal in mind. Curt Brungardt is an avid fan of John Lewis, one of my own civil rights movement heroes. One of John Lewis’ most famous quotes is this: “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?” Jana’s story makes me realize that we all have a mission. We all feel that we have been charged with a duty to our communities. Just remember that there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

This is Jana’s story.

View it. Share it. Live it.

Written by Will Dale

A dirt poor rickshaw puller in a slum in India once told me that he was the luckiest person alive. His hut was made out of bamboo sticks and plastic tarps, with raw sewage trickling out front, but still, Manoj Singh said he was happy - very happy, in fact. Though sometimes he only had only a few bowls of rice to feed his family, he said “I feel that I am not poor, but I am the richest person in the world.”

When I asked Manoj Singh, the rickshaw puller, what enabled him to be so happy, despite the grinding poverty that surrounds him, he pointed straight to his family. “When I return home and see my son waiting for me, and when he calls out to me ‘Baba!’ I am full of joy.” (source)

Roko Belic documents his search for happiness in Happy, a movie and movement. I initially discovered the story of this search for happiness through an article on the Huffington Post and wanted to share a glimpse of the story and wisdom. After watching the excerpts from the movie, I was challenged to select the details to share – the story, the movie, the assortment of press releases and write ups that brought happiness and light into my afternoon.

He spent six years researching happiness around the world, interviewing people in the bayous of Louisiana, the deserts of Namibia, the beaches of Brazil and the villages of Okinawa.  Roko’s most insightful experience of this documentary was while meeting with Ed Diener, Ph.D in Personality Psychology from the University of Illinois, who shares that “a person’s values are among the best predictors of their happiness. People who value money, power, fame, and good looks are less likely to be happy than people who value compassion, cooperation, and a willingness to make the world a better place. That astounded me — but it somehow made sense. People who express their love — who rejoice in the health and happiness of others — are more likely to feel loved and happy themselves.”

So, what is it that makes people happy?

As a crew worked documenting happiness around the world, they found that the following things made people happy: having a sense of friendship and community, caring and doing for others, a personal involvement with nature, a balanced life with leisure, and engaging in activities that one finds enjoyable.

Join Roko as he explores the search for happiness at www.thehappymovie.com/

“The greatest lesson I learned while making this film is that my pursuit of happiness is not about me. It’s about our relationships and how we help each other. It’s about us.” – Roko Belic

What makes you happy?