Policy Wins: Healthy Food Choices in Public Places
Close to two million South Carolina residents and employees in three major areas of the state will have healthier food and beverage choices when they visit vending machines and attend meetings that offer food. To make South Carolina a healthier place to live, Eat Smart Move More South Carolina (ESMMSC) teamed up with Voices for Healthy Kids to help local government develop and adopt healthy vending and food service policies. The City of Columbia adopted a joint policy and the City of Charleston and Spartanburg County were successful in adopting a healthy vending policy.
“To know that local governments are taking the initiative for their employees and visitors is a great sign for what’s to come in our efforts to increase access to healthier options for all South Carolinians.”
The Columbia policy supports the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Healthy Workplace Guidelines and applies to vending machines on city property and to city-sponsored meetings. The City of Charleston’s AHA-supported policy only applies to vending machines, while Spartanburg County’s policy supports the Food Service Guidelines for Federal Facilities and only applies to vending machines in county-owned or -leased property.
“Leaders in Charleston, Columbia, and Spartanburg County are leading by example. They spend money on nutrition education, wellness, and other disease prevention programs, so it just makes sense that they should support these programs by offering healthier food and beverages in public places,” said Ford.
In 2017, Columbia City Council voted unanimously to adopt their policy; while in 2018, Charleston’s policy was approved by Mayor John Tecklenburg and Spartanburg County Interim Administrator Jim Hipp approved the county policy.
ESMMSC is excited to work with leaders over the next few years to support
The Healthy Food Choices in Public Places initiative was supported by a grant through Voices for Healthy Kids. ESMMSC partnered with staff from Voices for Healthy Kids, American Heart Association, South Carolina Hospital Association’s Working Well program, South Carolina Commission for the Blind, and local government staff to achieve this monumental success.
Coming Soon: FAN Train the Trainer
Eat Smart Move More South Carolina and the Prevention Research Center at the University of South Carolina Columbia is teaming up to train community coalitions and state-level technical assistance providers on Faith, Activity, and Nutrition (FAN) training for churches. Participants will be able to train local church leaders on how to make healthy change happen in their church.
FAN is a physical activity and healthy eating program, previously found to be effective, that seeks to help churches create a healthy church environment that supports physical activity and healthy eating. More than 200 South Carolina churches of all denominations have participated in FAN, and we want to positively impact even more churches.
A one-day in-person FAN Train the Trainer training is being offered on Friday, March 15, 2019 to community coalitions from across the state. The training includes active breaks, a food demo and tasting, as well as a FAN-friendly lunch. FAN training is $25 per person. Congregational associations and other state-level technical assistance providers are invited to attend as well. Participants will leave prepared to train church committees in FAN.
FAN is a committee-based program where church members will work together to develop a plan that includes activities, opportunities, and guidelines to reach most members. As part of FAN training, church committees will be guided step-by-step through the planning process.
FAN is not an exercise program or a cooking class. Instead, the goal of FAN is to reach the entire congregation by creating a church environment where members regularly see and hear health messages and have healthier options available.
FAN encourages churches to increase physical activity and healthy eating among members using four key strategies:
• Increase opportunities for physical activity and healthy eating in the church setting (e.g. tasty, healthy meals & snacks for church events)
• Create healthy church guidelines and practices
• Keep the Pastor engaged and excited about FAN goals
• Get health messages out to church members through familiar channels (e.g., bulletin inserts, announcements, messages during worship service)
Registration will open soon!
Action Alert: Help us reach our legislators
Eat Smart Move More South Carolina (ESMMSC) is conducting a study of our state legislators to examine their perceptions of the relative importance of different public health issues. You can play a key role in helping us by emailing your legislators today and asking them to complete our short survey. Our goal is to get 30-40 legislators to respond.
This is ESMMSC’s first call to action over the coming months. We look forward to working with you to make the healthy choice the easy choice. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact Phil Ford, Manager of Policy, Advocacy, and Community Support at phil@eatsmartmovemoresc.org.
3 Easy Steps to Take Action
1. Find your legislators on the SC State House website.
2. Email your legislators through the SC State House website.
3. Copy and paste our message into the online form:
Dear Legislator:
Please complete the public health survey that was sent to you earlier this month from Eat Smart Move More South Carolina (ESMMSC), a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization that is working across SC to make the healthy choice the easy choice.
ESMMSC and partners will be using the information to develop district-specific educational materials to aid in your decision making as it relates to your district’s public health interests.
I have included the questionnaire link below. The questionnaire takes approximately five minutes to complete. All of the information you provide will be maintained securely. If you are willing to sign the survey, it will allow for more district-specific resources to be gathered and prepared for your use.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3YCXXBS
Sincerely,
(Your Name)
The HYPE Project, partnerships reach national level at 4-H conference
Many organizations across the United States view youth engagement as an important tool for advancing social change, developing youth skills, and teaching youth to become grassroots advocates. The HYPE Project caught the attention of the National 4-H Council and was incorporated into their annual conference in Chevy Chase, Maryland this year.
Eat Smart Move More South Carolina’s (ESMMSC) Trimease Carter and Kelsey Allen traveled to the Walmart 4-H Healthy Habits training on November 1-3 to teach youth and adults the first two phases of the HYPE Project curriculum. More than 120 4-H youth and adult leaders from 34 states and US territories learned about health disparities, community access, and policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change.
According to JoAnne Leatherman, Program Director of Foundations and Healthy Living at the National 4-H Council, they wanted to partner with ESMMSC after attending the 2017 HYPE Project training in Kansas City, Missouri. “ESMMSC’s youth-adult partnerships work to change community health aligned with 4-H’s mission, but 4-H has been focused on the change within the individual rather than PSE change. The HYPE Project curriculum brought in a new element while reinforcing youth-adult partnerships.”
4-H youth and their adult leaders spent two days learning about healthy eating, active living, and the PSE change process. In the Think Phase, they were engaged in the critical thinking process to think beyond the individual level and consider the impacts of community and environmental influences on health. In the Learn Phase, they learned what it means to be a champion for change, how to work with the media, and how to plan a HYPE project.
“When I don’t see teens on their phones, I know we have been successful. This training was lively, engaging, and impactful,” said Leatherman.
Many attendees indicated they plan to use the information they learned by incorporating it into their current programming, discussing community health issues, and implementing PSE projects. Based on conversations and evaluations, youth are interested in PSE changes like creating community gardens.
“I’m looking forward to an ongoing partnership with the National 4-H Council. The opportunities associated with this group will be beneficial to both of our organizations,” said Trimease Carter, Youth Engagement Manager at ESMMSC.
Carter is planning to return to Chevy Chase, Maryland in February at the 4-H National Conference to share additional information on the HYPE Project and policy, systems, and environmental changes.
To learn more about The HYPE Project, visit www.esmmsc.org.
Nine communities awarded grants to support local health-related projects
Eat Smart Move More South Carolina has approved nine grants in its first Let’s Go! 3.0 grant cycle to community coalitions seeking to provide residents with access to local healthy options.
Eat Smart Move More Allendale County is reactivating the Allendale County Healthy Young People Empowerment (HYPE) Project Team to plan, create, and promote a safe walking path that will allow Town of Allendale residents to access the local grocery store and farmer’s market. Youth will educate and mobilize other youth to become engaged in the pedestrian planning process and to advocate for social changes that are necessary to have the citizens of Allendale County make active living a priority in their lives.
Tri-County Health Network in Orangeburg is partnering with South Carolina State University and the Regional Medical Center to create two self-sustaining, organic community gardens. The gardens will continue the momentum and success of five establish school gardens and fight food deserts. Produce will be given to patients of a local pharmacy and used in the Regional Medical Center’s Diabetes Prevention Program cooking class.
Eat Smart Move More Richland County is revitalizing and enhancing two parks in Columbia – Crane Creek Park and Lorick Park. Fun Fitness Station stencils will be painted on walking tracks, making walking more interactive and fun. Health events will be hosted at the parks to educate neighborhood residents and community centers on the importance of physical activity and to encourage them to use the revitalized parks.
Eat Smart Move More Kershaw County is increasing access to the Kershaw County Farmer’s Market by creating way-finding signage. The market relocated to downtown Camden, and the signage will help residents and visitors find the market.
Eat Smart Move More Barnwell County is building a disc golf course in the Town of Williston. Residents indicated a need for family-friendly physical activity resources in the town. In addition, the Healthy Young People Empowerment (HYPE) Project Team will make improvements to walking tracks in the towns of Williston and Blackville by cleaning up the areas, painting lines, and landscaping. They will also advocate for an open community policy at the Williston walking track, and clean up the Williston-Elko Middle School playground.
The Alliance Collaborative in Horry County is working with the Horry County School District to adopt and implement the South Carolina School Boards Association’s model policy for open community use. The policy allows community residents to use outdoor playgrounds, tracks, courts and other outdoor recreational facilities located on school property.
Eat Smart Move More Anderson County is working with the Healthy Young People Empowerment (HYPE) Project Team to continue making Equinox Park in Anderson accessible to all residents, especially those with disabilities and special needs. Youth will help create a play space where all ages and abilities can play, learn, and explore the outdoors together, and interact with one another. The HYPE team will add two interactive sensory play panels installed at an appropriate height for wheelchair accessibility. The panels will be located near the Born Learning Trail and a shelter that will have an inclusive picnic table, grill, a solid paved pad with an access path.
Partners for Active Living in Spartanburg is installing a water bottle refilling station and drinking fountain at the trailhead of the River Birch Trail. The bottle filling station will be located on the edge of Spartanburg School District 7 property and will also serve community members visiting or using nearby athletic fields that are open to the public during non-school hours. The station features a convenient way to grab tap water to go and includes a handicapped-accessible fountain, as well as a ground-level drinking fountain for dogs.
Shady Grove Baptist Church in Greenville is fighting food deserts by expanding and enhancing an existing community garden to provide fresh produce for older members of the church, church members having financial problems, and those in need in the community.
ESMMSC will be awarding more community grants over the next two-and-a-half years to help community coalitions in South Carolina identify and address barriers to healthy eating and active living. In January and July of each year, coalitions will be able to apply for mini-grants to fund small-scale projects. The grants are made possible through funding by The BlueCross® BlueShield® of South Carolina Foundation, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
For more information about the Let’s Go 3.0 initiative, visit www.eatsmartmovemoresc.org. To find healthy resources in your community, visit www.letsgosc.org.
