The Ogle County Health Department is applying for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, “Addressing Conditions to Improve Population Health (ACTion)” (CDC-RFA-DP-23-0058) grant. The Ogle County Health Department is leading a multisectoral coalition consisting of county health departments, county partnerships, DHS offices, local hospitals and FQHCs, as well as a variety of other social service agencies to address the SDoH “Food and Nutrition Security” in a four-county rural Illinois catchment area. The catchment area includes Ogle, Lee, Whiteside, and Carroll Counties.
The Ogle County ACTion Project will address “Food and Nutrition Security” by 1) increase strengthening of existing policies, 2) increase of behavior and norms that reduce health risk, and 3) increase community infrastructure and accessibility to the infrastructure. Comprehensive evidence-based strategies will be provided throughout the catchment area including 1) health department environmentalists will review and educate the staff and volunteers in food pantries and mobile sites throughout the catchment area, 2) a multi-faceted comprehensive marketing campaign in Spanish and English using TV, radio, and streaming commercials, billboards, and the dispersal of Nutritional Newsletters throughout the catchment area, 3) education on a variety of food, nutrition, health, and gardening subjects taught by partnering agencies throughout the catchment area, 4) increase the number of food pantries, summer gardens and “Mini Food Centers” throughout the catchment area, 5) increase the number of residence who can produce in home fruits/vegetables by providing “Education for Home-Based Food Production” program, and 6) increase the coalition’s knowledge of Carroll County’s food insecurity by completing a Rural Active Living Assessment and Nutritional Environment Measures Survey.
The proposed ACTion Project priority population includes Medicaid, low-income, Hispanics, single parents, and children. By addressing “Food and Nutrition Security”, improved outcomes will be seen in persistent chronic disease disparities among these priority populations that are disproportionately affected, including the socioeconomic groups of Medicaid, low-income, single parents, and children and the ethnic group of Hispanics. These priority groups make up more than 50% of the catchment area.
The proposed ACTion Project Coalition participated in the “Closing the Gap with Social Determinants of Health Accelerator Plan (SDoH)” awarded to Ogle County Health Department for Ogle, Lee, and Whiteside Counties in 2022. The SDoH Coalition studied the surveys and worked meticulously to plan implementations to address food and nutrition security. Carroll County was added to the project, making the catchment area a four-county, 2,653 square mile area of rural Illinois with substantial food insecurity. The grocery store per 100,000 population rates for Ogle County is 11.59, Carroll County is 19.11, Whiteside County is 16.16, and Lee County is 14.64. These rates are significantly lower than the state rate of 19.53 and the national rate of 18.79.
Ogle County Health Department and the ACTion Coalition thanks the CDC’s office of National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion for the opportunity to apply for the “Addressing Conditions to Improve Population Health (ACTion)” grant to address health disparities in Ogle, Lee, Whiteside, and Carroll Counties by addressing the social determinant of health disparity of food and nutrition security.
