Live Healthy Fairfax

CONTACT INFORMATION: Available during regular business hours 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday - Friday
703-246-8856 TTY 711
10777 Main Street
Fairfax, VA 22030
Susan Sanow
Partnership for a Healthier Fairfax Project Manager

Healthy Eating

Making healthy food affordable and accessible for all.

Healthy eating is a critical component of health. It directly relates to cardiovascular risk factors as well as childhood and adult obesity. The CDC’s 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System report indicated that in Fairfax County, 34.2 percent of adults are overweight and 29.2 percent of adults are obese. The Virginia Atlas for Community Health reported that in 2012, 16 percent of youth ages 14 to 19 in the Fairfax community were classified as overweight and 11 percent were classified as obese. Providing frequent and easy access to healthy food choices is necessary to improve nutrition in the Fairfax community.

Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP)

Healthy eating goals:

  1. Increase the accessibility and affordability of healthy food.
  2. Increase the number of environments that promote healthy food choices and educational resources.

The Partnership for a Healthier Fairfax is combating obesity and other health risk factors related to healthy eating through promoting improved accessibility and affordability of healthy foods in faith communities, day cares, schools, and low socioeconomic status areas. The Partnership has established a food council which will be responsible for making recommendations for how to increase access to healthy and affordable foods, especially in underserved areas. Improving healthy food options in the community will promote better health for the community. To find out more about Fairfax’s Healthy Eating objectives and key actions, read the Live Healthy Fairfax Community Health Improvement Plan (pages 20-21).

See our progress detailed in the latest CHIP annual evaluation report.

What's Happening in the Community?

  • The Fairfax Food Council is charged with promoting improved accessibility and affordability of healthy foods in multiple settings and working with all food system access points including retail, farmers markets, emergency assistance and community gardening. Additionally, the Council will review influences in existing environments, such as faith communities, day care settings, school environments outside of the school lunch program, and low socioeconomic status areas.
  • The FFC is also pleased to release its 2015 Community Food Assessment (CFA). The CFA is a community survey that was conducted in three areas: Reston/Herndon, Bailey's Crossroads and Mt. Vernon. The goals of the survey were to assess existing conditions, gaps and barriers and to explore opportunities to improve access to healthy food. The results are now being used by the FFC to guide planning and programming efforts. A one-page document summary is also available.
  • The FFC has established three working groups: food access, community gardens and food literacy.

Get Involved

Learn about joining the Fairfax Food Council.

Resources

Fairfax Virtual Assistant