Campbell Soup Company launched Campbell’s Healthy Communities in 2011–a long-term corporate commitment to measurably improve the health of young people in our hometown communities, beginning in Camden, NJ. Since its inception, Campbell’s Healthy Communities has expanded to three additional communities where Campbell operates–Connecticut, Ohio and Washington.

This week, we shared results from the fourth year of Campbell’s Healthy Communities program. We continue to advance our efforts in four strategic areas: food access; nutrition education, physical activity and access and public will.  At the core of our work and central to our success and ability to scale is Collective Impact – a united approach to solving the complex social challenges of childhood obesity and food insecurity.

2015 results for year four of Campbell’s Healthy Communities include:

• Increased enrollment in the Camden Healthy Corner Store Network. More than 30 percent of Camden’s corner stores are enrolled in the Healthy Corner Store Network supporting increased availability of healthy, fresh, affordable foods; nutrition education; and increased sales.

• Expanded participation in “Heart Bucks,” which provides $4 in coupons for any heart-healthy food after participating in an in-store nutrition education lesson. Ten corner stores participated in the program. The redemption rate was in excess of 85 percent.

• Recorded 107,067 hours of physical activity for children who participated in programs such as Soccer for Success, 57 percent of those children lost up to 30 BMI percentiles.

• Provided more than 27,000 hours of nutrition education to children and more than 1,150 hours to adults.

• Developed a partnership with the Camden City School District to implement a district-wide health and wellness policy. Also developed a partnership with Cooper Pediatrics and Cooper/Rowan University Medical School to integrate Campbell’s Healthy Communities into primary care including nutrition education in the waiting room and off-site cooking classes for patients.

Additional details of the program are reported in the Campbell Healthy Communities Annual Report.

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