For Immediate Release
HUNTSVILLE, AL — Oakwood University’s Healthy Campus, Healthy Community initiative will officially launch the long-awaited Mobile Market on February 2, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. This initiative is part of an effort to combat health disparities and food deserts in the deep South, particularly in the communities of Northwest Huntsville.
The Mobile Market is designed to take fresh fruits, vegetables and health education to underserved communities via a customized, state-of-the-art traveling Farmers Market and Health Education mobile unit. Through this community initiative, Oakwood University intends to provide: (1) access to healthy food options, and (2) nutrition education to residents in underserved communities.
On February 2 at 10:00 a.m., leaders and event organizers will meet at the construction site of the Community Health Action Center on the corner of Sparkman Dr. and Bronco Circle NW, for media coverage and photos. The group will then proceed to the Northwoo14d Housing Community located off of University Drive, where the Mobile Market will be parked adjacent to the Calvary Hill Community Center on Fairbanks Street. Partnership acknowledgement and ribbon cutting for the Mobile Market will begin approximately 11:30 a.m.
‘The State of Alabama, through an Alabama Department of Economics and Community Affairs grant, saw wisdom in what we’re proposing,” explained Dr. Prudence Pollard, Oakwood University’s Vice President of Research and Faculty Development. Oakwood leaders say diet has a direct impact on health. Right now these communities are unhealthy because they don’t have access to healthy food options.
“There are actually areas in Huntsville where individuals cannot get fresh fruits and vegetables. We’re concerned about that,” added Pollard. “When people can’t walk, ride or drive to food sources, they’re most likely living in a food desert.”
“Our vision for this Mobile Market is to bring healthier food options to community residents that are unable to access it. We want to make accessibility to healthy foods easier for our community residents,” explained Dr. Lisa Dalrymple, Director of Oakwood’s Healthy Campus 2020 Program, and Associate Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics. The healthy food options provided for those living in food deserts will come directly from Oakwood Farms and other affordable sources. “Through this community initiative, our goal is to lower health risk associated with diet, lower incidents of diet-related preventable diseases, and empower residents of our community to make healthier food choices,” added Dr. Dalrymple.
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About Oakwood University
Oakwood University is a non-profit, faith-based institution located in Huntsville, Alabama and one of the fifteen HBCUs and five UNCF member schools in Alabama. Established in 1896, Oakwood Industrial School was founded by the Seventh-day Adventist Church to educate African Americans in the South. With an initial enrollment of 16 students and 375 acres on two former slave plantations, one of which was the early residence of America’s most famous slave, Dred Scott. Oakwood University now serves 1,422 students and manages three industries: Oakwood Farms, Edible Arrangements, and Oakwood University Memorial Gardens Cemetery on its 1,185 acres of land. Accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges since 1943, Oakwood offers its students 16 academic departments across five schools, 58 undergraduate degrees, including an Adult and Continuing Education program, and four graduate degree programs. US News and World Report ranks Oakwood regularly among the nation’s “Best Colleges,” in both the “Historically Black Colleges and Universities” (HBCUs) and “Regional Colleges/South” categories. Additionally, Oakwood University is the nation’s eleventh-ranked producer of undergraduate black applicants to medical schools and the only university or HBCU among the top 20 universities in the state of Alabama, according to the Association for American Medical Colleges. Oakwood University is also home to the world-famous, award-winning choir, The Aeolians.
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