The Cuyahoga County Board of Health was presented with the 2018 Model Practice Award by the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO) at its annual conference in July. The award recognizes local health departments for developing programs that demonstrate exemplary and replicable practices in response to a critical local public health need.
CCBH’s award-winning program, “Implementing High Quality Supermarkets Through Community Organizing and Public Health,” highlights the power of coalition building and resident participation as ways to address unjust access and supermarket quality. The program also focuses on associated issues such as community-based collaboration, employment, and resident quality of life.
OVERVIEW CCBH organized a coalition with the intent of developing a high-quality supermarket in a working-class neighborhood in the city of Euclid, an area with low access to grocery items. The supermarket implementation process was unique as it involved direct participation from nearly 600 local residents. The group offered feedback and oversight in order to ensure food quality standards, to establish and maintain relevance to the neighborhood, and to build trust and accountability with the store owner.
$650,000 was secured by CCBH from a state funding source and the City of Euclid provided $125,000 from its storefront renovation program, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The supermarket now employs 45 workers and sales of fresh produce have exceeded $400,000 in the first ten months of operation.