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Title: Nutrition and
Community Health Agent
Location: Northeast Region
Strategic Goal Focus: Identify incentives and programs to place much-needed professional services in rural communities supporting local and state decision-makers and enhancing community resilience
Through her work with the LSU AgCenter’s Healthy Communities Program, Quincy Vidrine has helped form a coalition in Franklin Parish that is making a real difference in the quality of life in the town and villages that dot the parish. New festivals, farmers markets and town events fill the parish calendar. Park improvements draw families to once neglected areas. Grant-funded programs are making the areas more pedestrian-friendly.These community-wide improvements have been instrumental in helping individuals make their own positive changes, which is at the heart of the LSU AgCenter’s Healthy Communities initiative.
Vidrine’s work is transforming rural health from the ground up. By building coalitions, helping communities secure grants, and empowering individuals to take ownership of their well-being, she’s helping Franklin Parish become a model for how rural populations can overcome health disparities. Her efforts are not only improving access to nutritious food and safe spaces for physical activity, but they’re also fostering a culture of resilience, collaboration and long-term change.
“With healthy communities, it’s about building coalitions,” Vidrine said. “It’s getting the right people together at the table for the right projects.”
The Healthy Communities model Vidrine champions offers a blueprint for improving rural health outcomes in underserved regions across the U.S. and beyond.
