A neighborhood produce market, health programs aimed at teens and a regional food assessment are a few initiatives underway for Northwest Arkansas thanks to grants awarded by the Endeavor Foundation last year.
The grants totaling more than $400,000 were distributed to 12 organizations with the goal of providing healthy opportunities for people living in the region, said Jill Kaplan, vice president of Strategy and Communications for the foundation. This includes educating and providing access to healthy food along with infrastructure for walking and biking.
Nearly 100 people attendedan event focused on teaching teenage girls healthy eating and body image techniques on Tuesday. The event was the first in an eight part series held by the Bentonville School District aimed at teaching youth and their parents about healthy choices. Funding for the program came from the Endeavor Foundation.
Girls ranging in age from 12 to 18 learned about nutrients in fruit, vegetables and dairy servings for their age from a Northwest Health System dietitian. A cooking demonstration by one of the hospital system’s chefs offered tips on how to prepare the servings.
“Our formative years and a lot of the habits people form happen before the age of 18,” Shawn Holcomb, a physician with Northwest Health System and speaker at the event, said. “It is important to get these kids on board for something that can be life-long.”
Several teens were anxious to ask questions following the presentation. Many of the questions revolved around healthy food and snack options.
Makenzie Kapales 15, said she heard some healthy snack ideas that she plans to try.
“It is one of those topics I have never been informed on before,” Kapales said.
A recipe that included baking eggs with lunchmeat in a muffin dish caught Kapales attention. The snack can be pre-made, taken to school and used as a pre-practice snack.
Mary Ley is the communication director for the school district and also an advocate for health programs in the community. Ley has applied for multiple national grants on health education for the district since 2010. However, she said it means a lot to have a grant from local sources.
“It means everything to have a community that really cares about our citizens,” Ley said. “We only have so much time on this earth. If you stay active and you eat well, it will be better.”
Arkansas was ranked 49th in the 2013 America’s Health Rankings published by the United Health Foundation. Yet, Benton and Washington Counties scored as the healthiest counties in the state by the 2014 County Health Rankings released last month. County Health Rankings is funded by theRobert Wood Johnson Foundation and published by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
Kaplan said foundation officials hope through its program, EnergizeNWA, that the region can make a long-term commitment to good health practices.
“We are hoping that we can continue to build a culture that is supportive of healthy, active living and then there will be a structure in place,” Kaplan said.
Educating the youth of the region is an important step in creating a healthier culture, Kaplan said. She said children need to be educated on what healthy food looks like, where it comes from and why it is important to eat.
Another step in the process revolves around creating access, Kaplan said.
Tri Cycle Farms in Fayetteville, received a grant to create access to healthy choices. An $8,000 grant from the foundation will be used to open a neighborhood produce market in coming months, said Don Bennett, founder of the Tri Cycle.
Those living near Tri Cycle’s urban garden plot on at the corner of Sycamore and Garland Avenue in Fayetteville will be able to bring produce from their backyard gardens to sell at the stand, Bennett said.
“We are trying to offer food as affordable as possible,” Bennett said. “We arealso trying to get everyone to grow as natural as possible.”
Tri Cycle sits on more than 2 acres of urban land, Bennett said. The enterprise was started in 2011 after Bennett realized some of his friends were having trouble finding affordable food.
The farm gives a third of the food produced to people who volunteer in the garden. It also gives a third to food banks and community meals at churches. The final third is sold to sustain the farms.
“Hopefully we will sustain jobs around the food,” Bennett said. “Most people the farm serves are underemployed. They are not necessarily unemployed. We are talking about the single mothers who work two jobs and students who work two jobs and go to school and still can’t make ends meet.”
Bennett said he is thankful to Endeavor for havingfaith in Tri Cycle. He said the organization is small compared to others that received a grant. Tri Cycle’s budget was $10,000 last year, he said. It also didn’t have its own non-profit status at the time of applying for the grant.
“It is our real first grant,” Bennett said. He said he hopes to use it to promote change for the region.
Policy is another goal of the EnergizeNWA program, Kaplan said. She said Bennett was a leader in a campaign to change Fayetteville’s urban agriculturelaws earlier this year.
Urban agriculture laws can sometimes add to families’ food insecurity, Bennett said. He said that is why he approached city leaders about changing the laws that restricted some animals in city limits.
A new ordinance will go into effect on April 17 that will allow between four to 20 chickens on plots of land depending on lot size in Fayetteville, Bennett said. He said it will also allow up to have three goats and four beehives.
Another organization to receive a grant was Northwest Arkansas Council. It received a grant for a regional food assessment.
Michael Harvey, said the assessment is under way. He said it will target gaps and solutions to food in the region. An example could be the struggle that local farmers and restaurants have when working together.
For example, farmers have difficulty distributing fresh produce to 12 restaurants on a regular basis and restaurant employees could have trouble visiting multiple farms to get all of their ingredients.
“One of the thoughts was a food hub type of operation,” Harvey said. “Instead of a farmer having to deliver, he could come to this food hub and distribute food.Then the consumer could go to the facility.”
Harvey said improving health is a positive step overall for the region.
“I think it ultimately helps in recruiting good people to work here,” Harvey said. “You hear so much from local companies needing talent. The more quality of life we have the more attractive it comes to these key people. If you look at it as a bigger picture there is a whole lot more to this story.”
Other projects supported through the EnergizeNWA grants include sidewalk projects in Bentonville and Fayetteville, a bike education program for the Fayetteville School District along with cooking classes through Community Clinic and Boys & Girls Club of Benton County.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 04/10/2014