It's been more than a year since Cleveland County's Healthy Community Initiative, and this year the coalition has been working to create and support county wellness initiatives.
The Duke Endowment grant-funded group, led by Projects and Programs Coordinator Jordan Frye, began the year with community conversations in five areas of the county where data showed limited opportunities for healthy eating and active lifestyles.
Fry said about 120 people participated in those community conversations, which helped the coalition agree on what the community wants and needs to do, and then used that information to create action plans.
“We start by thinking about the bottom line, a healthy district, and then we go back and fill in the gaps,” Fry said.
He said much of what was done was about bringing people together and supporting people and organizations that are already doing good work in the county.
They have about 70 active members who meet quarterly, and he said anyone can join at any time. She said the goal of members is to provide access to healthy food and physical activity. They create three- to five-year community action plans based on these two areas.
"We use a results-based accountability system," he said.
The goal is to improve the quality of life of all communities.
Cleveland County ranks last in the state's annual health rankings, and Healthy Community wants to change that.
“It really all starts with what we want at the end. We will then work backwards and determine what steps we will take to achieve those end results,” Fry said.
It took about seven months to develop the community action plans, she said, during which they created the website Healthtogethercleveland.org and partnered with marketing students at Gardner-Webb University to create Facebook and Instagram pages and a newsletter.
He said their social media following has quickly grown from 40 to 200 now, and they plan to continue working with GWU students to increase engagement.
"From there, we also partnered with the Cleveland County Health Department to get some population health assessment data," Fry said.
He said that they are still waiting for the results of the collected surveys.
Fry said the vision and governance committee wants to move forward and partner with community organizations to bring initiatives and action to the community.
"We often find that there is a lot of discussion but little follow-up," he said. "We decided to start with one community, organizing focus groups, so as not to complicate the situation. One of the first things we wanted to do was get back to Kingstown.
Frye said residents live in a food desert, meaning there are no grocery stores within walking distance and few places for safe physical activity. Healthy Community hosted a public conversation with city leaders.
"We wanted them to become health advocates and replicate that in other communities," she said.
Fry said she supports diabetes prevention education and screenings to identify barriers to physical activity. Healthy Community is currently funding additional diabetes prevention classes through the Ministry of Washington and the YMCA to expand what they offer. They will also support YMCA group classes and people can learn more about exercises they can do at home. After inspecting the walk, they discussed ideas to help people cross the road safely, such as a fence around the park and a crosswalk.
"These are some of the things we've done specifically in Kingstown and some of the things we'll be doing in the future," Fry said.
He said they are also working with the Foothills Farmers Market to support promotional efforts and make sure the community knows about the benefits of using SNAP and EBT at the market. He said people using the market's concessions can add an extra $10 to their purchases thanks to a sponsorship from the Cleveland County Health Foundation. Healthy Community of Cleveland County will also receive the equipment needed to allow people to use their benefit cards at the additional King Mountain Foothills Market site when the market reopens in the spring.
Other initiatives they support include purchasing $10 farmers market coupons in partnership with the Department of Health's Med-South Lifestyle program and working with Common Ground Café to provide healthy meals to seniors.
Next year, the coalition will partner with the City of Kings Mountain to promote walking tourism along the new historic walking trail.
"We are excited to continue this effort and provide more opportunities for the people of Cleveland County," Frye said.
For more information about Cleveland County's Health Together program, find them on Facebook, Instagram or visit healthtogethercleveland.org.
This article originally appeared in The Shelby Star: A local coalition shares a snapshot of efforts to create a healthier county.