Baltimore Community Fellowships
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Baltimore, Maryland
2008
Joyce Smith had her own health epiphany at age 41 when she learned that her grandmother had died of a stroke at 43. Smith watched other relatives struggle with high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes. "A light bulb went on," says Smith, now 56. "I realized that certain behaviors and traditions in low-income and African American communities are killing us."
With her own blood pressure too high, Smith took stock. "I had been doing what we do in America, which is whatever makes us happy," she confessed. So, she cut Pepsi and fried chicken from her diet. She banished the TV from her bedroom. She started exercising five days a week and reading food labels. It was worth it: she dropped 12 pounds and feels sharper mentally.
Smith will use her fellowship to preach the healthy gospel to others in southwest Baltimore, where she has lived and worked for 19 years. She is planning trainings and workshops to teach members of the community healthy eating and exercise. She is targeting children, teenagers, young parents, seniors, and families' primary grocery shoppers. She is dreaming up activities, such as creating food logs so participants can keep food journals or visiting the Hollins Market to learn about healthy choices.
As executive director of a coalition of neighborhood associations called Operation ReachOut Southwest, Smith already had been working on health and nutrition issues for several years with the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins University and the Bon Secours of Maryland Foundation. A 2005 study of health disparities in southwest Baltimore found an alarming prevalence of several chronic diseases: obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and stroke.
Her previous work also led Smith to realize that people's bad habits weren't solely to blame. Major barriers exist in low-income neighborhoods. For instance, there's only one supermarket in southwest Baltimore, with produce inferior to that sold in affluent communities. Instead, the neighborhood is dotted with corner stores stocked with highly processed, sugary foods. Smith notes that the stores mostly sell whole milk, not skim, and white bread. If they do sell wheat bread, it's an inferior type.
"There is a belief that low-income people don't know the difference," she says. "I just can't get certain herbs, farm-fed meats and certain kinds of produce. I don't think you could find Swiss chard or kohlrabi here." But instead, you'll find fast food and carryout joints everywhere.
Smith knows changing behaviors will be a challenge, but she has a direct pitch: "People need to make a conscious decision: Do you want to live on medications, or make lifestyle changes?"
