June 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 37

Asheville Parks and Recreation hosts a
Chili Cook Off event as part of its nutrition
education program.
guide to assist neighbors with locating
food resources in Asheville.
The work has reinvigorated interest
in a community garden council
that will connect community gardeners
and initiatives for increased
food access at the county level.
The Impact
Across all agencies, 17.9 million
meals were served to individuals,
228 food access points were established,
327 partnerships were
formed or strengthened, and more
than 31,000 households were provided
with SNAP/WIC outreach.
The nutrition education programming
also influenced health outcomes
with 30 percent of youth
increasing their fruit consumption
and 35 percent increasing their vegetable
consumption. Twenty-seven
percent of youth reported a positive
increase in meals prepared at home
with family and 21 percent of youth
reported increased confidence in
making healthy food choices. The
programming had additional mental
health benefits as well, with
adults who participated in nutrition
education ranking themselves higher
via pre- and post-surveys in every
quality-of-life indicator, including
overall life satisfaction.
Another
element of success
was the intentional effort to center
health equity within this grant,
and within each of the Community
Wellness Hubs. NRPA worked
with Epic Health Solutions
to
develop Elevating Health Equity
Through Parks and Recreation: A
Framework for Action over the grant
period.
Grantees
contributed
to
the shaping of this framework and
received direct training and technical
assistance from Epic Health
Solutions and NRPA during the
course of the project. Through the
training and assistance provided,
14
percent
of professionals
reported
an increase in health equity
knowledge and issues of health
equity and social justice, while 43
percent of professionals increased
knowledge related to social determinants
of health. Feedback from
the health equity training and technical
assistance sessions included a
recognition that " advancing equity
requires walking toward discomfort "
and having uncomfortable
conversations to challenge biases,
shift norms and develop concrete
goals and objectives to center equity.
Grantees also expressed a
deeper understanding of systems
change approaches and a mindset
that embraces continuous improvement.
As shared by Integral Youth
Services in Klamath, Oregon, " The
work is also never fully complete.
There are always going to be ways
the program can do better. "
Moving forward, NRPA will
be supporting a second cohort of
15 grantees to create Community
Wellness Hubs, working alongside
them as they conduct health equity
assessments, develop equity action
plans, and move through health
equity
integration
in support of
advancing community health and
well-being. A Community Wellness
Hub toolkit and evaluation framework
will be released in the summer
of 2022 to help park and recreation
professionals across the country advance
health equity.
Allison Colman is NRPA's Director of Health (acolman@nrpa.
org). Maureen Neumann is NRPA's Senior Program Manager
(mneumann@nrpa.org). Liliana Ruiz Fischer is NRPA's
Program Specialist (lruizfischer@nrpa.org).
PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G | JUNE 2 0 22 | Parks & Recreation
37
PHOTO COURTESY OF ASHEVILLE PARKS AND RECREATION
June 2022 - Parks & Recreation

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