Attention, Atlanta Shoppers

A team made up of Emory faculty, staff, and students; a local grocerychain; and a health care clinic has received a $25,000 award from GeneralElectric to collaboratively fight obesity, diabetes, and other diet-related disease.

Called the Southwest Atlanta Coalition for Healthy Living, the team includes representatives from Wayfield Foods, the HEALing Community Center, Emory’s Office of the President, Emory Continuing Education, the Emory Urban Health Initiative, Goizueta Business School, and Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH).

A winner of the HealthyCities Leadership Academy’s Open InnovationChallenge, the coalition received $25,000 to create a program to engagemembers of the community in healthy eating and provide assistance in foodpreparation and preventative care.

The Atlanta coalition aims to improve health outcomes by linking services at the HEALing Community Center, founded by Emory Professor of Otolaryngology Charles Moore, with nutrition and healthy eating programs at the Wayfield Foods store on MLK Drive in southwest Atlanta—one of the city’s most under-resourced areas.

At Wayfield, these trained “health ambassadors” will assist shoppers with making healthier food purchases, link them with other in-store programs, and provide information on services at the HEALing CommunityCenter. Representatives from Emory will support the process through marketing, food labeling, training health ambassadors at the store and clinic, and program monitoring.

“This is a tremendous opportunity to build upon the work that we have started collectively in our community,” Moore says.

“In creating a supportive environment within the community, we aim to make the healthier option the easier option,” adds Amy Webb Girard,assistant professor at Rollins.