Our work is accomplished through awareness-raising, education, and advocacy. The coalition promotes a culture and environment that supports both individual and community efforts to eat smart, move more, and safely achieve a healthy weight.
Get Healthy Guilford Guilford County's obesity prevention organization, is composed of 125+ community members from over 73 different organizations and agencies working together to make it easier for citizens to make healthy eating choices and engage in physical activity every day. The United Way of Greensboro's 2004 needs assessment identified obesity reduction/prevention and physical fitness as one of the top problems in our community. As a result, the Weaver Foundation hosted a forum Fall 2005, to encourage organizations to discuss those issues. The YMCAs and YWCAs of Greensboro and High Point, as well as Guilford County Department of Public Health and Moses Cone~Wesley Long Community Health Foundation (MCWLCHF) agreed to lead the obesity prevention and physical fitness effort. The MCWLCH Foundation gave $15,000 to the YMCA to plan and study the problem and in Fall 2007, gave a second $85,000 grant to establish a coalition and perform a study conducted by the Health Department.
In January 2007, the YMCA hosted an "Obesity Summit" with 60 Guilford County leaders representing a wide range of organizations to kick off the county's "Mayors' Challenge" and inspire people to "eat smart and move more" daily. The leaders at the summit agreed to send staff to monthly meetings to form a coalition to impact our county and help reverse the trend of overweight, obesity, and related health problems. Members from approximately 73 organizations have attended the meetings so far. Nine domains of focus were identified and work groups addressing five of the domains were formed (Schools, Worksites, Access to Healthy Food, Trans fats and Social Marketing). The results of our Health Department "Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey" were shared in Fall 2007, which reported the attitudes and behaviors of participants and will help us plan our actions and messages. In October 2007, the YMCA received a grant from MCWLCH Foundation in the amount of $494,000 over three years to support the Get Healthy Guilford coalition development, including hiring a full-time coalition director and part-time assistants. The coalition will submit grant proposals for initiatives in the areas of worksite wellness, healthy foods, and interventions developed by the work groups.
In 2007, Get Healthy Guilford sponsored the Mayor's Challenge and in 2008, the Eat Smart Move More Challenge for the community. In 2009, the coalition focused on childhood obesity and sponsored the Childhood Obesity Challenge in the Schools from February through April. In 2009, we held an Obesity Summit and recognized local businesses, schools, and institutions that are implementing effective wellness programs. In 2010, we held an Active Transportation Summit, featuring nationally-recognized consultant, Mark Fenton. These efforts bring together local leaders, thinkers, planners, and decision-makers to collaboratively create a community that supports healthy living. The coalition's efforts have raised public awareness and encouraged policy makers to consider access to healthy food and physical activity when making decisions and advocating for the health of our citizens. Obesity is a complex problem and requires a multi-faceted, multi-contextual approach to help people make healthy choices. By working together, Get Healthy Guilford can help our citizens be healthier and decrease the problems associated with overweight and obesity.
