Submitted by Healthy Savannah and the YMCA of Coastal Georgia
Dec. 9, 2024, The Savannah Chatham Food Policy Council has identified three top priorities it plans to pursue beginning in 2025 to ensure communities across Chatham County have equitable access to affordable, nutritious, locally and sustainably grown food.
The Council has been developing its focus and growing its numbers since Healthy Savannah started reenergizing the group in 2022 alongside community members, food experts, key stakeholders, growers and others focused on improving the food system in Chatham County. In 2022 and 2023, the Council hosted several listening sessions across the city and county to receive community input and met with the Chatham County Commission to share the purpose and vision for the SCFPC, which aims to develop policies to improve healthy food access and equity.
“The goal of the Savannah Chatham Food Policy Council is to work alongside community members and experts in the field to improve the food landscape in Chatham County,” said Ruby Castro, Healthy Savannah’s Nutrition Program manager. “Our aim is to improve food access and reduce nutrition insecurity.”
The Council has identified these three priorities to put into action starting in 2025 and has already begun developing a plan that prioritizes areas of greatest need.
• Growing /making/distributing food
• Food retail/food business
• Emergency food/institutions/food service
While SCFPC is expected to pursue all three areas over the next several years, it has prioritized the development of policy, systems, and environmental change opportunities for community gardening as its first project. The Council plans to work in concert with area municipalities on policy solutions for water and land access for community gardens and also intends to focus on providing education on policies and ordinances to encourage more community gardens and gardeners.
“More than 35,000 people in Savannah are affected by nutrition insecurity, which is the inability to access fruits, vegetables, and nutritious foods,” said Castro. “We aim to close this gap by partnering with other organizations to provide Chatham County with the resources necessary to adopt a healthier life through the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) CDC cooperative agreement.”
The Savannah Chatham Food Policy Council is supported by the five-year, $5.1 million (REACH) grant, administered by Healthy Savannah and the YMCA of Coastal Georgia. The REACH grant’s focus is to foster sustainable health equity among racial and ethnic minority populations in low-wealth neighborhoods in areas of nutrition, physical activity and the reduction of chronic diseases.
The membership of the Council includes Castro, as the group’s co-chair, alongside community co-chair Debbie Walker. Walker is employed by the Economic Opportunity for Savannah as its Retired & Senior Volunteer Program & Foster Grandparent Program Project director. The remainder of the Council is comprised of 19 board members who bring an array of skills and experiences to the Council as community members, organizational and agency representatives, policymakers, farmers, academia, students, and experts in the food system.
Healthy Savannah also hired Sakile Johnson in August as the Council’s coordinator. Johnson is responsible for collaborating with the Council and supporting its efforts in reaching the food system goals, organizing meetings, and handling other administrative duties.
“We often think of food insecurity during the holidays, but the Council will be searching for policy, systems, and environmental changes that provide sustainable solutions,” said Johnson. “Our mission is to coordinate and communicate efforts that develop, support, and promote policies that impact equitable access, sustainable production, and widespread understanding of healthy local food.”
It is estimated that 35,000 Savannahians live more than a mile from a grocery store. In Chatham County, 17.6% of all residents are food insecure and 21.8% of children are food insecure.
ABOUT THE YMCA OF COASTAL GEORGIA/HEALTHY SAVANNAH GRANT FOR RACIAL AND ETHNIC APPROACHES TO COMMUNITY HEALTH: In September 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded a second grant called Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) to Healthy Savannah and the YMCA of Coastal Georgia. $5.1 million in funding is being deployed over a five-year period to be utilized in an “upstream” approach to foster sustainable health equity among racial and ethnic minority populations in low-wealth neighborhoods in areas of nutrition, physical activity and the reduction of chronic diseases. The renewed funding enables work to continue which began under the initial, five-year, $3.4 million REACH grant awarded in 2018, and a supplemental grant awarded in 2021 to increase awareness and acceptance of COVID-19 and flu adult immunizations. Working with more than 200 community partners and organizations, the Savannah/Chatham County project team’s specific goals in implementing the new five-year grant include fostering physical activity by creating greater access to safe places to walk, run, bike and play; elevating the health and wellness of the community through policy, systems, and environmental change; and providing education and awareness regarding adult immunizations, especially as they relate to health disparities in chronic conditions of hypertension, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and obesity. The administrators will also continue to foster stronger connections between people and the healthcare providers who serve them by supporting awareness and use of the HERO Help Me database. In July 2022, Healthy Savannah received the CDC’s 2022 REACH Lark Galloway-Gilliam Award for Advancing Health Equity Challenge. The award recognizes extraordinary individuals and entities whose work has contributed to advancing health equity.