Early this summer, the Healthier Together Evaluation and Communications team traveled across Georgia to visit three of the five Healthier Together projects, which are part of the CDC’s High Obesity Program. The Healthier Together projects are food access and physical activity interventions aimed to prevent and reduce diet-related chronic disease in the state of Georgia. Evaluation graduate assistant, Katie Sanders, communications graduate assistant, Kristin Gibson, and Dr. Millicent Oyugi, a postdoctoral associate, traveled to Calhoun, Stewart, and Taliaferro County to collect data on project impact within the communities. Along with a team of undergraduate researchers, Emily Armstrong, Logan Hartzell, and Rose Tran, the team conducted focus groups about the progress of Healthier Together and went to everyday locations in the communities to collect survey data about broader project impact.
Calhoun County
With the help of Shanda Ashley, the 4-H County Extension Coordinator, Stacey Williams, the Healthier Together Calhoun County Extension Program Assistant, and Luke Crosson, the Calhoun County Agricultural and Natural Resources Extension Agent, the Healthier Together team conducted a focus group with 12 members of the Healthier Together Calhoun community coalition. The group talked for over an hour about the impact Healthier Together has had on their community, with increasing social ties and community togetherness cited as a major benefit. The group also discussed ideas they had for the future of the project, and plans were made about how to achieve these visions in the upcoming years. Following the focus group, the Healthier Together team explored some of the park enhancements and walking trails implemented by Healthier Together Calhoun!
Stewart County
The following day, the Healthier Together team traveled over to Stewart County to meet with members of the Richland Garden community group, who are key members of the Healthier Together Stewart community coalition. Aided by Christina Garner, the 4-H and Family and Consumer Science County Extension Coordinator, and Blair Harris, the Stewart County 4-H agent, the Healthier Together team sat under the shade of the gazebo in the Richland Community Garden to discuss the progress of Healthier Together Stewart over the past year. Coalition members highlighted the success of the garden, with the fruits of their labor on full display in the heat of the summer, which they estimated had fed over 200 members of the community. Looking toward the future, the coalition members hoped to increase community involvement, both in volunteering in the garden as well as consumption of garden produce, with eyes on expanding the garden in the coming years.
Taliaferro County
Thanks to Al Parker, the Northeast District 4-H Program Development Coordinator, Denise Dixon Everson, the Northeast District Extension Director, and Hope Smith, the Healthier Together Program Assistant, the Healthier Together team held a focus group at Nick’s Place, the local restaurant in Crawfordville that served up a delicious pasta dinner to accompany the conversation. Coalition members from Crawfordville and Sharon, two cities in Taliaferro County, came to describe the progress of Healthier Together Taliaferro over the last year. Much conversation focused around what to do in the coming years, including momentum on the Springfield Garden currently being developed, putting more walking signage around destinations in the county (signs that say how long it takes to walk from one location to the next), and hopes for getting back to normal after COVID-19 caused some setbacks in community-wide engagement. The following week, the Healthier Together team went out to the Sharon Community Garden for a work day, where they helped the Sharon Garden team plant onions, potatoes, and fruit trees. The team was able to share a meal from Nick’s Place (a community staple!) with great conversation about Healthier Together Taliaferro and how to increase community participation in the garden.
Summertime on the Healthier Together project means data collection… but thanks to all of the community members, Extension personnel, and a team of rockstar undergraduate researchers, data collection turned into an opportunity for food, fellowship, and future visioning for the sustainability of the project for years to come.
