Holistic Community Health Initiative

Systematic support for healthy eating and sustainable food acquisition is crucial to overall community health.

Research, data presentation, and advocacy form the basis for catalyzing a sustainable and healthy community, resulting in easily-accessible resources, education and training, and policy changes.

Vision

We envision a fully-formed scalable program for community health through a network of community gardens, community kitchens, and self-sustainable households, as well as the creation and maintenance of resources to facilitate these initiatives. We will champion school lunch programs that educate and nourish children with the abundance of their own communities. We will overcome economic and geographic limitations in holistic community health initiatives by advocating for changes in local, state, and federal government policies based on the presentation and publication of ethnographic and nutritional research.

Long-term Goals

• Change government policy regarding self-sufficient foodways, traditional foods, and community-driven health initiatives
• Build self-sufficient communities in urban, suburban, and rural environments
• Facilitate healthy community-supplied school lunches
• Build a resource library
• Promote media/public attention for food desert remediation/prevention and self-sufficient lifestyles
• Publish and present all relevant research

Preliminary Action

• Perform research on food deserts, nutrient density, foodways, and community initiatives
• Maintain a balance between science-based research and socio-cultural research
• Source possible model locations (schools, communities, households, etc.) to design and test program
• Begin building resource library and other outlets of information
• Open communications with possible model locations
• Provide curriculum and kit to share our offerings