Walmart Foundation Funding Fuels New Food Prescription Program UM professors develop initiative to address food insecurity, food desert issues for Mississippians BY SHEA STEWART
T
hree University of Mississippi professors are recipients of a nearly half-million-dollar grant from the Walmart Foundation that will create a food prescription program to improve access to fresh food for Mississippians. The $442,154 grant from the Walmart Foundation will fund a program that is expected to improve access to fresh fruits and vegetables and increase food security and food access for citizens of Charleston in Tallahatchie County. Titled “Hunger in Rural communities (HUNGeR): Integrating health and food systems for a sustainable food prescription approach,” the program is intended to improve the health outcomes of the entire household, as well as identify processes for spreading these kinds of programs to other communities and keeping them going once they are started. The three professors are Anne Cafer, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Meagen Rosenthal, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Administration, both from the Oxford campus, and Seena Haines, Chair and Professor of Pharmacy Practice at the UM Medical Center.
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“By supporting research, learning and outreach on food insecurity, the Walmart Foundation’s generous grant aligns with the University of Mississippi’s dedication to fostering health and well-being in our region, nation and world,” Chancellor Glenn Boyce said. “We’re grateful to the Walmart Foundation for enabling the development of replicable, scalable interventions and programs. The program will take a holistic approach in providing households who lack regular access to healthy foods with fresh fruits and vegetables and nutrition counseling, as well as education on how to store, prepare and cook these items. “This program is the culmination of some incredibly innovative and interdisciplinary work taking place at the University of Mississippi,” Cafer said. “The faculty, staff and community partners involved have spent two years working across a number of disciplinary and institutional boundaries to pilot and ultimately build a fundable program to address health at the nexus of food access and nutrition.” The program is one of the first hosted by the Community First Research Center for Wellbeing and Creative Achievement, a new UM center with the mission of empowering Mississippi communities – from counties and cities to groups of citizens – to take charge of their community development, policy change and resilience building by using data and the arts. The program is partnering with the James C. Kennedy Wellness Center in Charleston. Part of the Tallahatchie General Hospital Organization, the center, which opened in 2016, empowers the local community to lead healthy and happy lives through health and wellness programs, indoor and outdoor exercise options, and nutrition and self-care services. “I am thrilled about the Food Rx Project and believe it will bring much-needed access to fresh produce and increased awareness of good nutrition practices to families in the Charleston area and, in turn, will improve health outcomes, food security and well-being,” said Catherine Moring, the center’s executive director. Food insecurity is the lack of reliable access to affordable, nutritious food. A high rate of food insecurity makes unhealthy choices easy, accessible and affordable. The food insecurity rate is 19.2 percent in Tallahatchie
