The UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention’s Food, Fitness and Opportunity Research Collaborative aims to improve health equity and outcomes for North Carolina communities and beyond.
Our mission is to improve health, promote economic security and work to dismantle racism in NC and contribute to community-based research literature. We believe communities suffering from racism, environmental injustice and economic disinvestment should have reliable and affordable access to healthy foods and the opportunity to live healthy lives.
We Believe
We believe healthy food access is a right, not a privilege, and all people no matter their gender, ethnicity, race, class, sexual orientation, national origin, disability or age hold this right. We acknowledge that communities of color and low-income communities have suffered disproportionately from racism and discrimination and acknowledge their assets, resources and resiliency.
Our Values
We recognize that our understanding is a work-in-progress, and we must listen to communities and engage in continuous learning and trainings.
We strive to meet people where they are, exercise compassion in our processes, and recognize everyone has a different lived reality.
We recognize, respect and value all people and their differences. We aim to foster an atmosphere of inclusion and believe the diversity of our team and our stakeholders enhances our work.
We are committed to dismantling systems of oppression through our work. We acknowledge that communities of color and low-income communities are disproportionately impacted by racist policies and practices.
We believe people are the experts of their own lives. We seek to provide necessary resources and let communities guide the work to remove barriers and create change.
We base our program and research activities on the do no harm premise and believe there’s no one way to address challenges. Therefore, we continuously seek to expand our approaches outside of traditional academic methods.
We believe healthy living is a right, not a privilege, and everyone deserves access to this right. To realize this, we must shift blame away from individuals and instead create changes on policy, systems, and environmental levels.
