Our Stories

LHCC Helps North Louisiana Go Smoke-Free & Get Down In The Dirt


Laura Ricks
Dec 18, 2020


The Louisiana Healthy Communities Coalition is overjoyed to help and highlight the people up in north Louisiana fighting our twin chronic disease monsters, tobacco and obesity - those creeping, almost unseen causes of most death and disease. People are doing it by going back to the beginning and creating environments where people can be healthy by default – way before doctors, medicine and other scary, expensive treatments need to be called in.   

So how are LHCC mini-grants helping people be healthy in North Louisiana? Take a look:

  • The Village of Athens used its LHCC mini-grant to address food insecurity by creating a community vegetable garden and planting fruit trees downtown. This central location, along with its proximity to the Village Hall and Veteran Walking Trail & Gardens, has created a space for Athens’ citizens to feel better in more than one way. Now they can eat well and benefit from healthy, delicious squash, zucchini, peppers, herbs, and fruit tree produce; exercise and be active in an area that is open to all; and, perhaps most importantly, come together as a community.
  • In Monroe, we helped the Ouachita Healthy Communities Coalition work with Shady Grove Elementary to build an inviting outdoor classroom space - complete with a herb and vegetable garden, as well as with a durable outdoor floor for ongoing use. It’s a great space for teachers and to learn about science, nutrition, and gardening through experiments, tastings and classwork all in a garden setting.
  • With LHCC funds, Family Development Enterprises in promoted tobacco- and vape-free habits across Grant, Natchitoches, Winn and Ouachita parishes, by creating a digital campaign to connect people to dental health providers that offer tobacco cessation services. That effort was furthered by community members of all ages who helped spread tobacco-free messages via campaign push-cards and t-shirts.

LHCC is happy to have been a part of all these efforts! But it doesn’t stop here, as LHCC has grant opportunities pop up throughout the year. And one last thought: though 2020 has been a hard year for all of us, 2021 gives us a chance to learn from these hardships. Let’s resolve to come back healthier and better than ever before and to create communities that give everyone a fair shake at being their best self. Have a Healthy and Happy New Year! 





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