Local Farmers Markets offer a wide selection of produce during the Autumn season by llc
LiveWell Lawrence, a local community group whose aim is to make it easier to eat healthier and exercise more, received a $23,525 boost from a state foundation.
Douglas County was one of five communities in Kansas to receive a planning grant from the Kansas Health Foundation’s Access to Healthy Foods Initiative. The grant will help the community pick policies and practices that help promote access to healthy foods.
The Douglas County Community Foundation will manage the grant, but the work will be carried out through the LiveWell Lawrence leadership team, which includes officials from local health agencies, nonprofits, schools and governments.
Dan Partridge, director of the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department, announced the grant at a health board meeting Monday night. He said the Kansas Health Foundation wants the community to spend the first year “diagnosing the situation.”
He said a focus group would be formed to look at what barriers to healthy food exist and research the best practices and policies that could help reduce those barriers.
Those policies and initiatives would be pursued in the following years. The Kansas Health Foundation will have grants available next year to help implement those policies.
LiveWell Lawrence’s first task will be to head to Wichita to visit the foundation and learn about its perspectives on healthy foods.
Tagged: LiveWell Lawrence, Kansas Health Foundation, The Douglas County Community Foundation
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