Community food security is a condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice.  

Dr. Ardyth M. H. Gillespie, PhD served for 32 years on the faculty of the Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University Community Nutrition Program. She has bridged academic research, extension, and practice through her work in family food decision making, community collaboration and engagement, and nutrition communication.   

Through Collaborative Engaged Research – partnering with community food system stakeholders, change leaders, and scholars – she has focused on the complex relationships and dynamics of change in both food systems and food and eating practices. She seeks to create generative environments that foster innovative leadership for promoting more sustainable food systems that (1) foster improved health and well-being and (2) build family and community capacity for nourishing and nurturing children and their families across generations.

Healthy people create healthy communities. When you address the health of people in your community, you address budget issues, volunteering issues, economic issues, and all other community issues. The brain/gut connection is a rural development connection.   

People's body and brain are one sophisticated interlocking system. There is no real separation between your brain and your body. What you do to your body, you do to your brain. Heal your body and you heal your brain.  

The way to do that is to eliminate what is sending your key systems out of balance and provide your body (and brain) with what it needs to thrive once again.  

What steps can your community take to help the health of your citizens?

"Our individual health is linked inextricably to every segment, every aspect of our community life. How well each of us cares for our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health is brought to light throughout the community in our schools, government, life expectancy, healthcare costs, safety and crime, social justice and equity, finances, if we vote, our motivation to volunteer, happiness, and more. If we want a healthy community, we start with the person we see in the mirror."  

Rural Health Information Hub 

Thomas G. Bognanno, president and CEO of Creating Healthier Communities 

Healthy People 2020, an initiative of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.  

Centers for Disease Control 

Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine 

World Health Organization 

University of Nevada Lincy Institute

We talk with Eric Carr, P.E.  Eric is currently the community development director for the City of Riverton, Wyoming; where he handles planning, zoning, economic development and construction/building related items for the city.  

In 2018 a group of local Riverton and Fremont County residents got together and created the Local Food Hub with a mission of “Local People Supporting Local Foods”.  As part of their efforts, a membership CO-OP was created and a certified kitchen was established where members could prepare their wares and have the ability to sell them.  Two farmers markets were also established as part of the local foods movement and have been increasing in sales each season since their inception.    

In conjunction with the local food(s) movement, the local community college has also been an integral player.  CWC has established a meat sciences program, as well as a butcher program in an effort to better instruct those wishing to enter the work force in meat and meat production.  CWC has purchased a mobile slaughter unit, as well as a mobile processing unit which can be driven to specific locations throughout Fremont County where animals can be processed on-site.

We are going to start a new series on What Makes a Healthy Community.   

It all starts with you as an individual.   

All of it affects  

Engagement 

Collaboration 

Education 

Wealth Health

Crime 

Success 

Failure 

Relationships 

Trust 

Depression 

Beliefs 

and much more.   

Follow us as we start our journey into Healthy Communities.

Inserting Deliberate Dialogue into the realm of power politics will improve community challenges faced by American democracy today.   

We are heartsick, appalled, and disgusted at the attack on democracy taking place around this country. The president’s actions and words at his D.C. rally Wednesday incited a mob action that is not reflective of our country.   

Many small businesses in Rural America are hurting due to the lack of leadership during the COVID crisis and this president continues to lie and spread false information about the election that directs efforts, focus, and resources away from small business and community economic recovery.   As a business whose mission is to build civility, we demand that all our elected leaders provide the environment and take actions for a peaceful transition of power that is the cornerstone of our system of democracy.

We talk with Cathy about the recovery of NE Colorado.

Cathy Shull is the Principle of SAGE STRATEGIES: Strategic Planning; One Time Project management; Non Profit Management; facilitation; visioning and business coaching focusing on small business, nonprofits and local governments in rural areas.  

DISCOVER NORTHEAST COLORADO: Showing the activities, treasures, people and landscape of Northeast Colorado through a mobile event guide to attract new visitors to the area.  

GOAL: Supporting my rural roots and helping to build the economies in my own backyard  SPECIALTY: Working with small business, local government and non profits in rural areas of Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas    

You need to know who is living in your community. 

Population characteristics create culture and culture creates the future of your community.   

Tapestry segmentation provides an accurate, detailed description of America's neighborhoods—U.S. residential areas are divided into 67 distinctive segments based on their socioeconomic and demographic composition—then further classifies the segments into LifeMode and Urbanization Groups.  

Each year, population and household counts by Tapestry segment are updated. While most geographic areas retain their original Tapestry Segment assignment, select areas may be assigned a new market segment when research uncovers new or significant local growth.

How do you know what to do if you don't know who lives in your community?   

Today we continue our conversation on the characteristics of who lives in Rural America's communities.   

Tapestry is the beginning point of know why you need to do what you need to do.

SHOW LESS    If Rural America goes back to normal, rural communities will be in the shape they were.   

Not being normal and building upon the opportunities is the only way that a community will have the strategic advantage to grow population and reduce poverty.   

Know what was normal and make sure that you do not make the same decisions that will keep you there.   

Warning - Some of your leadership will want you to return to normal since that is where their power is stored.