Community
The Health Empowered Community
Funded by 
What Health Empowered
community learning looks like
Kids racing at a community center.
Learn more about our impact ⟶
In so many places out in the community, you’ll find us. At farmers markets, while families meet and greet as they learn new ways to boost their health and nutrition and try fresh fruits and veggies under our “Be a Health Hero” tent.
In local grocery stores, where we offer families quick-and-healthy snack and recipe ideas as they prep for the busy week ahead.
At community events or family nights, you’ll see us giving live cooking demos or education classes like “Rethink Your Drink” that help adults and kids look closer at the food labels and ingredients in their daily drinks.
These efforts are part of an important wrap-around effect. In areas where we’re already working with children in early care centers, schools, and out of school time sites, we can amplify our impact on the families and communities who support these children through powerful outreach and social messaging.
How It Happens
Working closely with local community partners, store retailers, farmers, and food pantries, it’s our goal to:
- Increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables – especially in under-resourced communities or where food deserts exist
- Advance adult health education and literacy – and survey our impact on consumer understanding and purchasing decisions
- Boost awareness and healthy behavior choices through our “Eat Drink Move” Be a Health Hero campaign – featured on outdoor billboards, retail grocery signage indoors and out, and at other food outlets and community centers.
Cooperative community health partnerships
Our Community Engagement Specialists co-host community health programs and events with our key partners. Going beyond outreach alone, we also share data about local health trends with our retail partner sites and other entities, including –
- Local health departments and housing authorities
- Family Connection
- Parks and Recreation
- Schools, Boys & Girls Clubs, and Head Starts
Resources and onsite support for store retailers and shoppers
Putting healthier options in front of shoppers starts in local grocery aisles and storefronts. That’s why we provide onsite support to store retailers – from customer taste tests, guided store tours and reusable shopping totes to healthy messages on signage throughout the store interior and exterior. We offer tips for featuring merchandise in ways that encourage sales of fresh produce, and we work with owners to create special end-caps or mobile cart displays that make fresh and nutritious foods stand out to shoppers.
Healthy family and community engagement
Our community outreach spans places and states of mind – from pop-up markets or community gardens in area schools to educational classes and healthy lifestyle reminders in grocery stores and community centers. Our store tours show consumers how to read nutrition labels, find the healthiest options in their local grocery, and how to shop and cook on a budget.
This material was funded by USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — SNAP. This institution is an equal opportunity provider. For the USDA’s full non-discrimination statement, click here.
Increasing shelf space for healthy foods can positively impact consumption, our store and consumer surveys show. Our data also show that as customer understanding of how and why to eat healthier grows, so do fruit and vegetable sales.
“Our experience with HealthMPowers has been phenomenal. They provide a substantial community service promoting the purchase of healthier foods – influencing better eating choices by consumers and assisting our perspective as a retailer advertising those foods. Their efforts will reshape grocery shopping for a healthier future.”
Justin Morrell,
Store Co-Manager, IGA