The North Carolina Healthy Communities Program takes a comprehensive approach to improving public health by addressing social, environmental, and behavioral factors. The program focuses on four key areas: 

• Promoting healthy eating by expanding access to nutritious foods through initiatives such as community gardens, farmers markets, and nutrition education.
• Encouraging physical activity by creating safe spaces for walking, biking, and recreation to support an active lifestyles.
• Preventing chronic disease through education, screenings and lifestyle programs that reduce risk factors for conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.
• Reducing injury and violence by supporting community-driven safety efforts, including safe driving programs, firearm safety initiatives, and neighborhood violence prevention strategies.

As part of this mission, the Food Pantry Capacity Project was developed through a partnership between the Greater High Point Food Alliance, Second Harvest Food Bank, and the Guilford County Division of Public Health Healthy Communities Program.

This initiative assesses food access gaps, identifies food pantries providing fresh fruits and vegetables and strengthens partnerships to enhance food security efforts. This project focuses on systems change and increasing autonomy for food pantries, ensuring they have the necessary resources and infrastructure to better serve their communities. Infrastructure and equipment limitations have been identified as barriers, with agencies reporting the need for supplies and equipment such as refrigeration, shelving, food storage bins, scales and rolling carts to increase their capacity for fresh produce distribution. 

During FY 2023-2024, the project provided supplies and equipment to 15 local food pantries, expanding its reach to 22 pantries in FY 2024-2025. This continued growth demonstrates the increasing need for food assistance and the ongoing commitment to strengthening food security efforts across Guilford County. By working collaboratively, the Healthy Communities Program and its partners are fostering sustainable, health-supportive environments that empower communities with greater autonomy and long-term food access solutions.

Below are some words of gratitude from this food capacity work:

• "We are so grateful to the Guilford County Health Department for its donation of five rolling carts to A Shared Blessing Food Pantry. Our location on North Wrenn in downtown High Point is just two blocks from Sheraton Towers, which has more than 90 apartments for veterans, seniors, and persons with disabilities. About 30 of these residents have visited our pantry for food assistance, and the availability of a rolling cart for them to borrow to transport their food is sure to make them more likely to take advantage of our service. Thank you for this generous contribution to our program."
• "We received a big wheel handi mover from Phase I of the Capacity Building Initiative and are so grateful for this wonderful piece of equipment.  It allows us the flexibility to safely move items around in our food pantry and everyone is able to handle it. A big Thank You to everyone involved in getting this equipment for us.  It has made a big difference in our day-to-day work!"