Healthy & Resilient Communities (HaRC): Bringing Healthy Food and Health Resources into Detroit Communities

DETROIT — Healthy food and healthier communities go hand in hand. Through Authority Health’s Healthy & Resilient Communities (HaRC) initiative, fresh, affordable food and health and wellness resources are being brought directly into Detroit neighborhoods.

At the center of HaRC’s current community outreach is the HaRC food truck, which travels throughout the community to parks, schools, institutions, community events, fairs, festivals and other outdoor gathering spaces. Rather than expecting residents to travel outside their neighborhoods to find healthier options, HaRC brings those options directly to the places where people live, learn, work and gather.

The HaRC food truck offers affordable, freshly prepared meals made on-site by a HaRC Community Health Worker/Chef. Menu selections emphasize fresh ingredients and provide community members with convenient alternatives to heavily processed foods. The mobile approach allows HaRC to reach residents in a wide variety of settings while making healthy eating more accessible, practical and connected to everyday life.

HaRC also continues to provide access to fresh, healthy grab-and-go options through a HaRC refrigerator located inside Linwood Fresh Market on Linwood Street in Detroit. This remaining retail location complements the food truck by providing another community-based point of access to healthier food choices.

But HaRC is about more than food.

Authority Health’s team of more than 20 Community Health Workers (CHWs) remains active throughout the community, connecting residents with health resources and providing education on health and wellness topics, including healthy eating and nutrition. Through community outreach and one-on-one engagement, CHWs help residents better understand the relationship between nutrition, preventive care and overall health while working to increase health literacy and connect people with resources that can support healthier lives.

HaRC builds upon Authority Health’s longstanding commitment to addressing the social factors that influence health. The initiative recognizes that improving community health requires meeting people where they are — not only in a clinical setting, but also in the neighborhoods and community spaces that are part of their everyday lives.

Through its combination of freshly prepared affordable food, mobile community outreach and Community Health Worker engagement, Healthy & Resilient Communities continues to evolve as a neighborhood-based approach to improving access, strengthening health literacy and supporting healthier communities throughout Detroit.