From anchored to equitable... Centering community voice, transforming policies, and connecting communities to relevant nutrition education.

To grow equitable centering of community voice that integrates needs-based policy, systems, and environmental change (PSE) into transformational community-based work, Michigan Fitness Foundation (MFF) staff instituted organizational change through adopting equitable evaluation principles, guided by the Equitable Evaluation Initiative. In response, MFF shifted reading about community needs in written proposals to welcoming community teams to use storytelling and testimony to identify their own nutrition-related needs. These changes have made it possible for nutrition educators to share power with community members and program participants. Changing the power dynamic and disrupting anchored structures make pathways to nutrition-related behavior change more equitable.