Watkins Spreads the Word about "Healthy Savannah" at Conference
Public health advocates and others from around the state were able to learn about the opportunities and challenges of mounting a local public health movement at the Georgia Public Health Association 83rd Annual Conference in Atlanta on April 13. The Institute's Malik Watkins and Kathryn R. Martin from the Georgia Health Sciences University presented insights they have gathered from their firsthand experiences with Healthy Savannah.
Both Watkins and Martin are involved in Healthy Savannah, an initiative spearheaded by the City of Savannah in 2007, which has since grown into a community-wide movement for improving the health of Savannah's residents and a nationally recognized model. Watkins and Martin spoke to the conference attendees about the many health-related projects that have been implemented through Healthy Savannah and the process of building support for the projects and bringing them to fruition on the ground.
"What we have found over the years with Healthy Savannah," explained Watkins, "is that lack of money is never an excuse to not move forward. In fact, money sometimes gets in the way. What has been essential to success has been a group of dedicated individuals and organizations."
Healthy Savannah was born after Savannah's then mayor, Otis Johnson, suffered a massive heart attack in 2007. Already in 2006, the mayor had engaged with Albany's mayor in a city v. city health competition. Johnson's health crisis was the kick-start the city needed to launch a major public health initiative that addressed health needs from a variety of directions with the help of many parts of the community. The city hired a former Health Department employee to act as a community organizer and coordinate efforts.
Since its inception, Healthy Savannah has worked with the City of Savannah and Chatham County to successfully pass smoke-free ordinances. It partnered with researchers to conduct a food desert study that identified neighborhoods in the city without ready access to fresh, healthy foods. It campaigned to attract a major grocer to one of these areas and helped establish two community gardens. Healthy Savannah was able to work with the city government to change a law, which allowed it to establish a farmers market in the middle of town, and a small grant funded a program doubling the value of food stamps at the market.
The initiative is currently working with the school system to improve lunch menus for students and open a gym for community residents. It is also working with architects to improve green spaces and build bike lanes to increase accessibility for pedestrian and bike traffic in the city.
Watkins serves on the Healthy Savannah board and helps it develop implementation strategies. His background studying community organizing and social movements has informed many of the approaches adopted by the initiative and helped them integrate the contributions of the City of Savannah, Chatham County, nonprofit groups, private businesses, hospitals, and individuals. Watkins and Martin are currently chronicling the flow and sequence of events that took Healthy Savannah to where it is today. They will author a journal article and a book that will serve as a resource to other local governments or communities that wish to pursue their own public health initiatives.
