National Health Outreach and Engagement Conference 2024

McCartney, K.
Rural communities in Appalachia face disproportionate challenges in accessing healthy foods
since the industrialization and a centralization of the food system which relies heavily on
transportation of food. This process favors urban environments and leaves remote communities
at a disadvantage when it comes to cost and variety of foods available. According to Map the
Gap, a report by Feeding America, 9 out of 10 high food insecurity counties are rural and 8 out
of 10 are in the south. Individuals that face food insecurity are likely to suffer from other
chronic health conditions such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, hepatitis, stroke, cancer,
asthma, diabetes, arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and kidney disease.
Addressing disparities of food security and food access requires substantial and sustainable
changes to the food system. Food sovereignty approaches call for equitable access to healthy
food created when communities reclaim power over food system development. Gardening is an
equitable solution for individuals in rural communities to reclaim power over food and
Extension is an ideal partner to provide that education and engagement.

Grow This! is a statewide gardening campaign in West Virginia supported by West Virginia
University’s SNAP Ed program, exploded in popularity during COVID as a desire for improved
health and self-sufficiency increased. The reach of the program has remained consistent, with
around 82,000 per year participating either as an individual, family or through an organization.
The campaign drives participation through an annual seed signup, featuring 3 crops.
Participants engage in virtual education and engagement, primarily on the Grow This!
Facebook page and through an electronic newsletter.

Recognizing the potential power within the virtual community, The WVU Extension Family
Nutrition Program has launched, The Grow This! Throwdown is a place-based intervention
based on Communication Infrastructure Theory (CIT), which suggests health disparities in
geographic communities can be addressed by increasing collective efficacy by integrating
multi-level storytelling networks. Launched in January, the throwdown is a county vs. county
competition where points are earned through completion of tasks specific to education and
promotion of gardening, nutrition and food security. The top 3 counties with the most points at
the end of the competition win money for their community. The issuing and completing of
challenges serves as a means for generating stories which in turn, is hypothesized to build
collective efficacy within communities and participating teams.

Evaluation of the reach and outcomes will be generated through the reporting of challenges into
a map-based software system and a leaderboard, which will track the challenges and point
leaders. If successful, the Grow This! Throwdown concept could serve as a model for collective
action in other rural communities and reporting of nutrition security interventions within
Extension.