Program Components Year One

Our Health-Smart Behavior Program was created as a path for changing and preventing obesity among participants, and it has been used across the nation. It focuses on creating individual goals and connecting with others so that lessons on health education, healthy eating and drinking, and physical activity can stick with participants. For Health-Smart Holistic Health, it has been adjusted for seniors.

The program-wide events include Health-Smart Group Discussion Sessions, Group Physical Events, and Health-Smart Expert Panels. All these events serve to provide direct opportunities for health education and physical activity, as well as times for social connections.

As our healthcare system continues to change, there are many seniors who have been left without adequate insurance. Because health insurance is so complicated, we aim to help our senior participants understand the processes of enrolling and for what they may qualify. By having the appropriate insurance plan, our participants can feel more confident that their health is in their hands.

Our team has partnered up with the Jacksonville Urban League (JUL) to address this component. There are certain family members of our participating seniors who live with or near them and who assist in supporting them financially. With the help from the JUL, we are striving to teach these family members financial literacy and help them develop financial savings goals aimed at unexpected emergencies.

For our target communities, church plays a large role in their lives. As such, we have partnered with select churches to open food pantries so our participants will have access to healthy foods. This is especially important as our participants live in an area that is known to have food deserts.

As technology continues to advance, we want to make sure that our participating seniors have the knowledge on how to use their phones to the fullest. This does not just mean for texting and calling, but also learning how to customize their phones accessible for their needs.

In partnership with the Jacksonville Urban League (JUL), we want to assist the unemployed or underemployed family members who live with or near our participating seniors. This is a big step that also complements our Financial Literacy and Asset Security component. In this part, we hope to give these family members the skills they need to be hired and sustain their employment at a job that pays a living wage salary.

Being social is no longer only in person. As our world continues to connect through the internet and other technologies, we wanted to create an application that would allow our participants to do the same. This app gives information on food security, mental health, and social connection, while also providing a real-time chat feature for our participating seniors to talk to each other from a mobile device.