ChangeLab Solutions

Through its Building Healthy Communities priority area, NYHealth has supported neighborhood-level approaches to improve access to healthy, affordable food and to activate spaces to encourage more physical activity.

To sustain the progress that has been made in these communities, it is important that neighborhood grantees have the tools and capacity they need to maintain and expand their initiatives and goals. Grantees have expressed a particular need for support in advocating for local policy change and solutions and effectively communicating their wins, goals, needs, and value. Strengthening these efforts will help ensure the long-term sustainability of the achievements and place-based work in each neighborhood. In 2021, NYHealth awarded ChangeLab Solutions a grant to help the Clinton County Health Department (CCHD) develop a long-term plan for a healthy and equitable food system in the region.

Under this grant, ChangeLab Solutions partnered with CCHD to develop a local food action plan focused on the next 10 years. It helped establish the project’s core objectives, priorities, and stakeholder engagement strategy. To gather input and gain consensus around goals and priorities for food system change, ChangeLab Solutions conducted a baseline community food assessment and environmental scan of other relevant food action plans. It also developed evaluation metrics to help CCHD and its community partners track progress and stay engaged over time. The local food action plan acted as a blueprint and identified actions for a healthier Clinton County food supply chain and improved community health.