Eating and Living Well
Community Gardens
Rich Delta soil, long growing seasons and temperate weather have made the Mississippi Delta one of America’s largest production areas of commodity crops. Yet, in this agricultural Mecca, many of the area’s poorest residents don’t have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Often, several miles separate individuals without adequate transportation from grocery stores, leaving limited choices in healthy food options. Therefore, Delta Health Alliance’s Community Garden project works with local healthcare organizations, civic entities, municipalities, schools, churches and clinics to provide sustainable access to nutritious vegetables within these communities.
Feed the Future Backpack Project
When the DHA and its partners decided that a strategic goal would be to improve the development, health and wellness of children in the Delta, the magnitude of the impact of Delta students’ poor nutrition on their ability to learn and succeed in developmental activities was not evident. The Feed the Future project was specifically developed to address that problem in two counties over an initial 12 month project period, both by providing immediate relief to the issue of poor nutrition on weekends and by addressing underlying problems of poor access to healthy foods. This project will feed children 3rd through 5th grade in two schools- Stampley Elementary in Clarksdale, and Brooks Elementary in Duncan. This is a a backpack program that gives children food to take home from school every Friday so that they children are getting nutrition over the weekend when they don’t have access to the breakfast and lunch programs at school.
Body and Soul
This project’s goal is to adapt, implement, and evaluate a culturally-appropriate church-based intervention designed at improving dietary and physical activity habits among African Americans residing in Delta Region. This program will be adapted from an effective and thoroughly evaluated church-based diet intervention from the National Cancer Institute called “Body and Soul” used to meaningfully increase fruit and vegetable consumption among participants.
Tobacco Cessation
The mission of the grant from the Office of Tobacco Control is to promote and protect the health of all Mississippians by reducing tobacco-related disease and death. The office accomplishes this mission by utilizing a systemic approach to tobacco prevention and control. Each program component is developed and implemented based on evidence-based strategies and the recommendations outlined in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs.
Copyright © 2013 Delta Health Alliance.
