Community / Project Resources

Bringing Awareness and Action to Nutrition & Food Insecurity on the Eastern Shore of Virginia

By Eastern Shore Health District

Eastern Shore created this poster to highlight their local work addressing food insecurity and gaps in nutrition education. This poster was created during the CPHMC project and was presented at NWA’s Annual Conference in May 2016.

The Eastern Shore of Virginia is rich in many resources including agriculture and seafood. However, the health district found that many members of their community are plagued by preventable chronic illnesses related to poor nutrition and diet. One of the initiatives that directly impacted the WIC community is the adoption of a breastfeeding policy by the Eastern Shore Health District (ESHD). The Eastern Shore Healthy Communities Coalition also developed a toolkit to provide guidance and assistance to other organizations on the Eastern Shore of Virginia who would like to implement a business case for breastfeeding. Other project interventions focused on increasing access to healthier foods to reduce chronic illnesses in the community. To accomplish this goal, ESHD assembled a variety of representatives from organizations including the Food Bank, the public school system, and WIC to develop an action-based strategy to increase the uptake of existing resources, expand upon existing programs, and to adopt best practices from other communities. In addition to hosting a Food Summit, they also expanded the Healthy Options restaurant program.

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Date Added
December 4, 2017

Citation
Eastern Shore Health District (2016) Bringing Awareness and Action to Nutrition & Food Insecurity on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Available online: https://thewichub.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com/2017/10/Eastern-Shore-Poster-Template-Option-3.pdf