City of Spartanburg issued the following announcement on January 14.
Mayor’s Wellness Initiative will augment current community health efforts, provide equity focus
Today at the City of Spartanburg’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Week Walk as One event at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, newly sworn-in Mayor Jerome Rice announced the creation of a Mayor’s Wellness Initiative.
Informed by data from the Spartanburg Racial Equity Index released in 2018 showing large racial disparities in health outcomes within our community, and in accordance with the "Healing, Reconciling, and Unity" resolution passed unanimously by City Council in 2020, the Mayor’s Wellness Initiative will seek to change those outcomes by focusing on health and wellness issues specifically through a racial equity lens.
Building on past community initiatives such as Spartanburg’s Way to Wellville and enhancing ongoing work such as Live Healthy Spartanburg and Hello Family, the Mayor’s Wellness Initiative will begin its efforts with the formation of a task force created by the City along with a broad array of community partners offering guidance and support, including:
Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, ReGenesis Healthcare, VCOM, SCDHEC, Access Health, Mary Black Foundation, Spartanburg Regional Foundation, Spartanburg County Foundation, United Way of the Piedmont, ReGenesis CDC, Northside Development Group, Highland Leadership Group, Spartanburg School Districts 6 and 7, Spartanburg Housing, Spartanburg County, Spartanburg Community Indicators Project, One Spartanburg Inc. PAL, YMCA, Fatherhood Initiative, The Clergy Initiative, and Boys and Girls Club of the Upstate.
This new task force will be charged with supporting equitable health and wellness efforts throughout our city as well as identifying new opportunities for programs, collaboration, and sustainable, solution-oriented policy changes. By bringing the institutions and community members already working on these issues together around around a shared equity framework, the Mayor’s Wellness Initiative task force will help drive positive change in health outcomes in Spartanburg.
Additionally, Mayor Rice announced a new "Miles with the Mayor" event, to be held at a rotating location each third Saturday of the month. The new event is ment to provide an opportunity to interact directly with the Mayor, while also encouraging residents to get outdoors and to stay active.
Speaking during his announcement, Mayor Rice said of the goals of the wellness initiative, “Spartanburg should not be a place where your zip code determines how many days you get to spend with your grandchildren. We must do better, and we will.”
The City anticipates completing formation of the Mayor’s Wellness Initiative Task Force in the coming weeks, while the first "Miles with the Mayor" event will be held on February 19.
Original source can be found here.
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