Together, We Thrive

“It sounded like something the family would enjoy doing together. Learning new activities and learning about being healthy,” says Salisbury N.C. resident Jennifer Wharton.

Jennifer Wharton attends cooking and nutrition workshops, buys fresh produce at a local farmer’s market and participates in dance and racquetball classes. So does her son and her husband. Even the Salisbury, N.C., family’s dog tags along.

These varied programs, each aimed at key components of an overall healthy lifestyle, are offered not through just one organization, but through a network of community organizations collaborating within the Healthy Rowan Coalition. Their goal: to improve overall community health by encouraging healthy eating and habits.

Healthy Rowan is one of thirty-three regional health coalitions that have been formed across the Carolinas in recent years through the Endowment’s Healthy People, Healthy Carolinas Initiative. The initiative, launched in 2015, has provided more than three million people with opportunities to lead a healthier lifestyle through community health programs and policies.

Healthy People provides strategic resources, training and supports that empower organizations to collaborate, coordinate and engage community members in collective efforts that can positively, and equitably, impact health outcomes for everyone.

In North Carolina and South Carolina, high rates of obesity and related health conditions impact a large percentage of Carolinians, placing them at higher risk for disease and reduced life expectancy. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the environments of many American communities inadequately support healthy diets and regular physical activity, two powerful factors at the core of chronic health issues such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

Rowan County leader Karen South Jones compares community-wide health efforts to stewarding fish in a pond. ​“We spent a lot of effort in the past focusing on each sick fish. But we didn’t spend time thinking about if there’s something in the pond causing the sick fish. That’s what Healthy Rowan is doing now. Can we make that pond healthier for entire communities?” she says.

The Wharton family sees the results of their Healthy Rowan activities not just as changes measured on a scale, but changes in the quality of time spent together as a family, and also with friends and neighbors.

“I think this program should be not just in North Carolina, but should be all over,” Jennifer Wharton says.

Learn more about Healthy Rowan.