The Port Towns Community Health Partnership received nearly $200,000 from Kaiser Permanente to promote healthy lifestyles in the community.

The partnership — a collective group of local nonprofit organizations that work to support healthy living in Bladensburg, Edmonston, Cottage City and Colmar Manor — plans to use the grant money it received in mid-November to create outdoor activity programs, plant farms, lead physical fitness programs and start campaigns against obesity.

“The grant is to support nonprofits that work in the Port Towns so they can have programs and activities that address healthier eating and active living,” said Cheverly resident David Harrington, a senior policy adviser with Common Health Action, a Washington, D.C.-based strategic planning organization that works with the partnership. “It’s aimed at improving food access and really engaging the youth into making healthier choices.”

Harrington, a former Bladensburg mayor and state senator, said Kaiser selected the Port Towns as a target area for its community health initiative to identify and financially support communities with chronic disease.

“Kaiser Permanente convened several funders and public agencies to support the Health Partnership's work because our goal of measurably reducing rates of obesity and chronic illness requires the commitment of multiple stakeholders," said Celeste James, Kaiser’s director of community health initiatives in a statement. "We're very pleased to be part of this collaborative effort to build healthier, thriving communities in the county."

Edmonston’s ECO City Farms, an urban farm and food education nonprofit, will use $25,000 to construct a new 3.5-acre urban farm in Bladensburg. The new urban farm, given its name for its urban location, will produce a variety of vegetables and serve as an opportunity for onsite training, education on how food is produced and contribution to a composting operation.

“Creating a second ECO City Farms in Bladensburg specifically catering to the employment and consumption needs of a targeted group of Port Towns’ low-income residents is food policy in action,” said Margaret Morgan-Hubbard, ECO City Farms’ CEO. “[The new farm] will provide a unique national demonstration of how creating equity, healthy eating and active living can intersect to produce a new and dynamic form of community wellness.”

The Riverdale-based End Times Harvest Ministries, another funding recipient, will use $25,000 to create a youth-based public policy program that will lead to nutrition and physical fitness activities and programs. The Port Town’s Youth Council Wellness Ambassadors, an educational group overseen by ETHM, will lead such programs and will be given stipends throughout the year, said End Times founder and president, the Rev. Gail Addison. The grant funding will also be used to hire part-time staff for the program, such as a public policy outreach coordinator and public health practitioner.

“What they will do, as they learn about healthy eating and active living, is teach peers and others in the community to change the health conditions and bring the community to its optimum wellness condition,” she said. “This is about young people playing a part in helping others see.”

Morgan-Hubbard said Bladensburg is a certified food desert, a classification given by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which identifies areas that lack access to affordable fruits, vegetables and other foods that make up a healthy diet. In addition, roughly half of the children throughout Prince George’s County are considered overweight or obese, Harrington said.

The Bladensburg-based Anacostia Watershed Society also received $25,000 to increase access to recreational activities around natural resources along the Anacostia River. AWS plans to provide paddling and canoe instruction, programs for biking and walking, and education about local plant life to spark interest in active, outdoor activities, according to AWS Recreation Manager Eric Sibley.

In addition, the Ecumenical Health Collaborative, a faith-based organization through Word of God Church in Bladensburg, received $25,000 to go toward a six-month obesity prevention campaign to encourage weight loss and blood pressure monitoring.

Harrington said the remaining funding will go toward required project evaluation costs in addition to conducting a health impact assessment to provide data about health in the Port Towns.

djgross@gazette.net