Register for Dig In Now!
Wed, 01/25/2012 - 12:01pm — mmckinley
AHA invites you to Dig In, our third annual event featuring the down and dirty on how to build and maintain and sustain community gardens in the Triangle! Winter "Staycation": Six Things to Do This Winter in Wake County
Tue, 01/17/2012 - 4:48pm — mmckinley
True winter weather simply hasn’t hit the Triangle yet this year, but it may still happen! In the absence of snow and lots of exercise sleddding and cross country skiing, AHA offers these ideas for kids tracked out or anyone looking to fill their weekends with fun activities. If you have other ideas, share them with us to pass along.
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Who We Are
AHA fosters and supports community efforts to make healthy eating and physical activity the way of life in Wake County. Simply put, we are working to make the healthy choice the easy choice!
AHA currently consists of nearly 60 partners, and we always welcome new partners to the table. To see our partner list, click here. If you would like to join AHA, please click here! This flier, which you can print and share with others, highlights what AHA is all about.
What We Do
AHA works to achieve its mission by shaping policy and environments that ensure available and affordable access to healthful food and physical activity for all community members. AHA does not create or implement programs, but facilitates partnership and collaboration between existing programs and services to create a community that works together effectively. AHA also helps identify gaps in community resources and advocates for what is needed to fill these gaps. The AHA membership currently includes nearly 60 stakeholder organizations and will continue to grow as needs and opportunities are identified.
AHA also works to showcase and promote healthful eating and physical activity opportunities and programs in our community. Visit our community resource page to find out what our county has to offer.
AHA accomplishes its work in the following work groups:
- Local Foods
- Community Connections (formerly Access and Environment)
- Engagement and Inclusion
- Public Relations and Communications
- Western Wake AHA
Sept. 2011 Quarterly Update
AHA work groups provided these project and program updates for the September Quarterly Meeting.
Wake County Mapping Project: Ever wonder where all of the local parks or farmer's markets are located? Do you know if you can walk to one of them? Check out the AHA GIS map here to learn what is available in your neigborhood!
Brains and Bodies: 13 schools earned the new AHA Brains and Bodies Award for healthy elementary and middle schools across Wake County in 2011! The 2012 application will be online in January 2012.
Upcoming Brains and Bodies Workshops:
- On the Plate: National Nutrition Month Activities, 2012 Brains and Bodies, Award Information, January 12, 10-noon.
- For Sale: Healthy Fundraisers, Concessions & School Stores, March 29, 10 am-12 pm.
Community Needs Assessment: AHA members continue to be engaged in the steering committee, environmental health, and physical health committee. We will continue to work to address our needs in the assessment report.
Health Impact Assessments (HIA): AHA continues working with advocates to implement HIA in the Blue Ridge Corridor Project and the New Bern Corridor.
Farm to School: Work is underway to increase the capacity of the farm to school program in Wake County by increasing the number of GAP certified farmers in our area.
Growing Urban Ag Projects in Low-income Communities: Webinar
PolicyLink will host "Equitable Strategies for Growing Urban Agriculture", a webinar on Feb 16, 2-3 pm (EST). It's free but you must pre-register.
Advocates are illustrating that urban agriculture is a pathway to making healthy food more available for low-income communities, a key to shifting economic revitalization efforts, and catalytic for battling the challenges of blight and abandonment.
Building from the recently released PolicyLink Urban Agriculture Tool, PolicyLink will be hosting a mini-series of webinars focusing on how low-income communities and communities of color are incorporating urban agriculture into their community development efforts and into policy infrastructures supporting this work.
This first webinar will feature Green City Grower’s CEO Mary Donnell, Ian Marvy, the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Added Value (see video here), and Malik Yakini, Chairman of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network. Each panelist will discuss challenges and strategies for growing and sustaining urban agriculture projects in low-income communities and communities of color.
YogaFest NC April 14: Registration Open Now
Registration is now open for YogaFest NC, a way for people across the Triangle to come together and experience accessible yoga for all skill levels as well as learn about improved mobility through the practice of yoga, proper breathing techniques, the importance of emotional health and better eating habits.
YogaFest NC is Sat., April 14, 8:00 am-4:30 pm mat the HIlton North Raleigh-Midtown. Learn about the event, agenda, sponsorship opportunities and registration at the YogaFest NC web site.
Nourishing NC Garden Grants Available!
The NC Recreation & Park Association announces the second round of funding for the Nourishing NC Community Garden Grant Program. Details about the guidelines and application are online; deadline is Mon., Feb 20, 5 pm.
Per the grant guidelines, Wake County is eligible for up to $3000 in funding to establish or enhance a community garden. Priority will be given to a collaborative application to fund more than one garden in the county and priority will be given to applications where parks & recreation, the health department and cooperative extension are involved.
Contact Michelle Wells with NCRPA with questions: 919-832-5868.
Local Food Champions: Are You a Champion?
AHA thanks the Local Food Champions who help fund local food related initiatives! Whole Foods Market Raleigh (Wade Ave.) and Whole Foods Market Cary are Harvest sponsors.
Sponsorships are available at a variety of levels and all support Dig In, Farm It Forward, Lunch In and other initiatives. If your organization or you are intersted in being a Local Food Champion, please contact us!