The Northeast Iowa Food & Fitness Initiative
In April, the Northeast Iowa Food and Fitness Initiative received a grant of $500,000 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to help communities embrace active living and healthy eating. Allamakee, Clayton, Fayette, Howard, and Winneshiek County are included in the Initiative.
The Northeast Iowa Food and Fitness Initiative, co-led by Northeast Iowa Resource Conservation and Development Inc. and Iowa State University Extension, is one of nine projects nationwide selected as pilot sites by Kellogg. Each will work for two years to create a community action plan to create community environments that support healthy children, youth, and families by making available and promoting the procurement and consumption of local healthy food and by creating space and structure for physical activity and play.
During the two-year planning process the Northeast Iowa Food and Fitness Initiative will have the opportunity to map out how to address issues such as increasing the availability of healthy local foods in school, restaurants and grocery stores, improving opportunities for residents to incorporate physical activity into their everyday lives, strengthening the publics understanding of the economic, health and environmental benefits of leading healthier lifestyles, and helping local, state and federal legislators understand how policy impacts health in rural America.
U.S. Senator Tom Harkin says, “We are facing a super-sized health crisis in this country. Too many Americans are
overweight or suffer from obesity, which can lead to serious chronic health conditions like heart disease and diabetes. Programs like the Northeast Iowa Food and Fitness Initiative are crucial to turning America’s obesity epidemic around and giving people the tools they need to live longer, healthier lives."
Planning Teams have been established in each of the counties. The meetings are being facilitated by the public health, economic development and ISU Extension offices in each county. In the county planning meetings, citizens will begin to develop a plan to create system change to get to the root problems of children’s health issues such as obesity, diabetes, poor nutrition and lack of safe play spaces. Get involved! Visit www.niffcoalition.org for meeting schedules.