The East Hadley Road neighborhood of Amherst is home to three apartment complexes, a condominium complex and many single family homes. This summer (2014), Healthy Hampshire worked with the Amherst Health Department to begin documenting and telling the story of what life is like for residents there and what improvements could be made to help people get to the grocery store, access transportation options, get to the bike trail, and more.
Some of the youth volunteered to be part of a photo documentation journey through Amherst, where they took pictures of the environment around them. Many of these pictures are from young people (Liliana and Sidilene), and several are also taken by an Amherst College intern (Jessica) who helped out with the project, as well as the Coordinator of the project (Sarah).
The Amherst Health Department is hopeful that, armed with survey data, photos and stories, they will be able to work with residents, organizations and town officials to improve the transportation options in the area. Healthy Hampshire is part of the statewide Mass in Motion program funded through the Dept. of Public Health.
For more information, contact Sarah C. Bankert, MPH at (413) 586-4998 ex. 120 or via e-mail at
sbankert@collaborative.org.
