5-Year Plan

Year 1 is a planning year, with activities focused in Dallas, Perry, and Sumter counties. Dallas, Perry and Sumter counties, called Mentoring Communities, will be forming community consortiums to create partnerships with schools, work sites, health care providers, and community organizations to oversee project activities that support healthy behaviors among citizens. Year 1 of the grant will involve:

• Completing a community assessment
• Reviewing the community assessment to identify strengths and weaknesses within each community (related to obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, nutrition, physical activity, and tobacco)
• Writing a one-year community action plan

• Beginning implementation of the activities included in the community action plan

Year 2 of the grant will continue implementation of the activities included in the community action plan.

Years 3-5 of the grant will include the three funded communities (Dallas, Perry and Sumter counties) mentoring additional communities in Alabama. By the end of the funding cycle, twenty-one counties in the Black Belt Region and West Alabama will be Strategic Alliance Communities. These include Dallas, Perry, Sumter, Geneva, Covington, Escambia, Conecuh, Butler, Lowndes, Pickens, Green, Hale, South Tuscaloosa, Bibb, Chilton, Choctaw, Marengo, Washington, Wilcox, Monroe, and Clarke counties.