Local North Carolina-grown fruits and vegetables will be more available, especially to rural communities and low-income residents through new farmers' markets. Teenagers picking up a quick afterschool snack will find healthy items at the convenience store. Children will participate in child-care programs with more physical activity. Mothers will be encouraged and provided the support necessary to breast-feed. Residents will take advantage of new shared-use agreements to exercise at facilities throughout the community.

  • In Wood County, 19 new gardens have been created at childcare centers serving 1,800 children. The gardens support early learning about healthy eating and increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables.
  • More than 200 second- through fourth-grade students at 10 Wood County elementary schools participated in Fit-tastic, an eight-week afterschool program that helped them develop healthier eating and physical-activity habits.

In 2004, the Food Trust in Philadelphia, PA, in partnership with The Reinvestment Fund and the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition, identified a strong need for government investment to finance supermarkets, grocery stores, and other healthy food retailers in underserved communities. This led to the first statewide fresh food financing initiative.

For two years, West Oakland residents and community partners worked to research and identify seventeen indicators to monitor environmental, health, and social conditions for their neighborhood. Residents then used the data in the indicators report to issue a formal request that the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) develop stronger regulations requiring the Red Star Yeast factory (the area's second leading source of toxic emissions) to reduce both pollution and noxious odors. The evidence in the report was also used to build media advocacy, testify at public hearings, and to garner letters demanding regulation and enforcement from the Department of Public Health and local elected officials. The combination of evidence and pressure led BAAQMD to remove the exemptions that had grandfathered Red Star Yeast into antiquated emissions standards.

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