Walking the nutrition talk

The impact of a community-engaged nonprofit in Selma, Alabama

Abstract

COVID-19 and its differential impact on those with compromised health have driven home the fundamental importance of nutrition, which is at the root of much chronic disease among the poor. Edmundite Missions, serving Selma and rural Alabama for 80 years, has demonstrated how the actions of a trusted nonprofit providing holistic services in a deeply and historically impoverished population can improve nutrition, inspire youth leadership on nutrition issues, and while simultaneously driving resources into rural economies. In the process, the work has also shown that the poor do indeed understand the importance of good nutrition and both seek and choose positive nutritional options if they are available. The problem among the poor is not knowledge; it is opportunity.