Subscribe to the RSS feed.Central Valley, CA: Nation’s most ironically unhealthy region
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CHP | Posted on: December 2nd, 2009
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Vegetables bound to leave
California’s Central Valley is the most productive food producing region in the U.S., raising half of the nation’s entire crop of fruits and vegetables, and serving as our largest dairy region.
Ironically, it’s also one of the poorest areas of the country, with very high rates of malnutrition, diabetes, and obesity. It may be hard to believe, but large numbers of residents claim to have little access to fresh produce themselves!
The area around the city of Fresno also features large areas lacking in sidewalks and streetlights.
If that’s not enough, packs of wild dogs in some areas of the Valley keep children from playing outside, and keep adults from walking through their own neighborhoods.
Did we mention the gang violence? It’s among the worst in the nation.
A recent NPR story pointed to Kettleman City, a town of 2,500 in the heart of the Valley,where there are virtually no sidewalks and no grocery stores, and where “most of the youth work in the fast-food restaurants,” according to Yesenia Ayala, 20, of Food Link, a program that gives free fruits and vegetables to the community.
On their breaks, Ayala says, the fast food workers hit the other fast food joints for their lunch or dinner.
In other words, the fresh fruits and vegetables are produced in the Valley, sent off to places like Illinois for “processing,” and then returned to the Valley in the form of condiments for Big Macs.
Recently, community efforts like the California Endowment’s Building Healthy Communities Initiative and the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program have been gaining steam, and they have been applying strategies similar to those encouraged by our own small grants provided in Oregon by Community Health Priorities.
Two weeks ago, hundreds of people gathered in a downtown Fresno school to talk about how to reduce childhood obesity, cut youth violence, boost school attendance and promote health in some of the city’s most troubled neighborhoods.
According to the Fresno Bee, it was the public’s first chance to discuss how to spend an infusion of funding from The California Endowment, which is the largest health foundation in California.
The California Endowment chose 14 communities across the state for its Building Healthy Communities Initiative, which will allocate funds based in part on what the communities ask for.
After the workshops, participants signed up for teams that would tackle specific problems, such as youth violence and childhood obesity. The teams will continue to meet until the end of March 2010, when they will present their action plans, said Sarah Reyes, senior program officer for The California Endowment.
Here in Oregon, we’ll be keeping our eyes on efforts like this in California, as we attempt to launch similar programs in this state.
If you would like to receive a small grant to conduct similar work in your own neighborhood in Oregon and Southwest Washington, read more here.
And cross your fingers for Fresno.
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