Healthier Lyon County continues work to improve access to healthy food in Emporia and surrounding communities.
On KVOE’s Talk of Emporia this week, Program Director Teresa Briggs spoke about ongoing work to create a food policy panel locally, specifically looking at the presence of food deserts and bringing stakeholders in to create policies that address food insecurities.
The US Department of Agriculture defines food deserts as parts of the country lacking access to fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas. Briggs says these can be found in parts of Emporia as well as surrounding communities like Bushong and Americus. One way many communities have addressed food deserts is by creating community gardens, which Briggs says can have a number of benefits.
In addition to addressing food insecurities, Healthier Lyon County also hopes through its Blue Cross Blue Shield Pathways grant, to create safer routes to food. In Emporia that could mean different things says grant manager Daphne Mertens.
The Kansas Health Foundation bestowed an $84,000 grant to the city to help start a bike share program, which is in the works, thanks to a collaboration between Healthier Lyon County and the Multi-Use Path Planning Board. Mertens says improving bike lanes is a definite part of that initiative to create safe routes to food.
Last year Healthier Lyon County also was awarded a $400,000 pathways grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield which is good through 2020. The grant is helping address several pathways to improve the overall health in Emporia and Lyon County.
If you missed any of the Aug. 15 KVOE Talk of Emporia, you can listen to the full interview below:
