By Rebekah Hall
U of A System Division of Agriculture
LITTLE ROCK — In many rural Arkansas counties, access to healthy food, nutrition education and safe places for physical activity are limited, contributing to higher rates of obesity. To help improve these conditions, the Cooperative Extension Service has received a five-year, $4 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s High Obesity Program.
PLAY FOR ALL — As part of Cooperative Extension Service efforts to reduce rates of obesity in Arkansas, extension worked with the City of Forrest City and the Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas to renovate Stuart Springs Park with accessible playground equipment, new signage, bike racks and walking tracks. (Division of Agriculture photo.)
The Cooperative Extension Service, the outreach arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, is one of 16 land grant universities selected to receive funding to implement the CDC’s High Obesity Program. The program funds universities working with local cooperative extension services in mostly rural counties where 40 percent or more of adults have obesity.
Bryan Mader, extension assistant professor and health specialist for the Division of Agriculture, said this is the first round of funding in a five-year grant cycle. The High Obesity Program will be implemented in Bradley, Crittenden, Desha, Drew, Hempstead, Phillips, Monroe and St. Francis counties.
According to the CDC, obesity in the United States affects more than 100 million adults and 14 million children, accounting for approximately $173 billion in annual healthcare costs. In 2021, the adult obesity rate in Arkansas was 38.7 percent. That same year, 37.1 percent of Arkansas youth aged 10-17 qualified as overweight or obese, according to the CDC.
Mader said this funding will support programming that addresses food security, safe and accessible opportunities for physical activity, family healthy weight programs, breastfeeding and early childhood education. Extension will work closely with the selected communities to implement these important programs, Mader said.
“All of this work will be done in cooperation with community-based organizations as well as community members themselves,” he said. “That’s everyone from local government, healthcare clinics and hospitals — such as UAMS East in Phillips County — to organizations such as food pantries, food banks and early childcare education centers, as well as community members who will be participating in the programs that we put in place.”
Creating sustainable solutions
This is the third High Obesity Program grant to be awarded to the Cooperative Extension Service in Arkansas, the first having been awarded in 2014. Mader said the goal of the program is to not only achieve statistical improvements in health outcomes, but also create sustainable programs that will continue to improve quality of life in the selected counties.
“We’re hoping to create sustainability through collaboration, so that in the end, these communities have built capacity to support health promotion programs and make sure that they’re able to continue improving health outcomes, especially once grant funding ends,” Mader said. “We’re also looking to position extension as being a trusted partner in communities for delivering public health interventions and public health programming.”
During the previous grant cycle, the Cooperative Extension Service has made progress in addressing health disparities related to poor nutrition, physical inactivity and obesity.
“We do a lot of work through food pantries and food banks to increase access to food,” said Jessica Vincent, extension community and public health outreach specialist for the Division of Agriculture. “Part of that work involves expanding food pantries by providing the necessary items they need to bring in and distribute healthier food options, such as proper shelving, refrigeration and freezers.”
Vincent said extension established a mobile food pantry in Phillips County with the help of Phillips County Judge Clark Hall. Hall allows the use of a 30-foot cargo trailer owned by the county, which is otherwise used only during elections.
“We equipped that cargo trailer with shelving, refrigeration and a battery-operated generator,” Vincent said. “That trailer now goes through the very remote areas of Phillips County to serve residents who can’t get into the main Helena-West Helena area to get their food.”
In St. Francis County, extension assisted with the renovation of a local park and is currently renovating a second in partnership with the City of Forrest City and the Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas. This includes installing new, accessible playground equipment, signage, bike racks and walking tracks.
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's generous award through the High Obesity Program will allow the Cooperative Extension Service to work alongside communities to reduce risk factors for chronic disease and ensure that healthier environments and options are available for all Arkansans,” Mader said.
For more information about extension health programs, visit the Cooperative Extension Service’s Health in Arkansas page.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.