In the current era of global transformation, racial and health inequity, chronic disease management, child and adult obesity, violence prevention, and overall good health and well-being have all become high priority concerns, mainly due to population health concerns, and less than optimal health outcomes. Also, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, treatment of these ailments is now occurring in a community setting. A community infrastructure that addresses health, nutrition, and overall fitness, has been shown to positively impact the health and health outcomes of community residents, just as education, sports, and recreation programs have been shown to positively impact our children and youth overall health outcomes as well. Our goal is to create and expand that infrastructure, using these evidence-based modalities, in our planned health and wellness center.
Through this venture, we plan to create and implement programs and services that address issues such as poor lifestyle choices, smoking, physical inactivity, youth literacy and development, and child and adult obesity, now known as “Lifestyle diseases”. We believe this venture and property acquisition will allow us to expand our reach in the community and provide much-needed services to underserved residents across the Baltimore City community on a more comprehensive scale. With this property acquisition, we are currently planning the following: A Child and Youth Development Center, a Health and Wellness Center, as well as a Commercial (Community) Kitchen. Our goal is to create a community center that promotes sound mental, physical, and emotional well-being across the lifespan of our most vulnerable and underserved community residents, and to treat lifestyle ailments with lifestyle medicine which has been shown to positively impact these ailments.
Physical inactivity, poor chronic disease management, and obesity are three of the greatest health risks facing our community today. Years of systemic racial and ethnic inequality/inequity have sustained an even greater impact of these “lifestyle diseases” in our minority communities across the globe.
Our goal is to acquire the Coldspring Community Center in order to create a “Center for Healthy Living’ that serves all community members, but that specializes in reducing health disparities in minority communities using “Lifestyle Medicine” in concert with local health care facilities and professionals. We plan to be impactful by instilling healthy lifestyle behaviors to children in the early childhood stage and continuing across the lifespan of our participants and communities, using exercise, fitness, nutrition, education, and recreation to inspire healthier lifestyles across those communities. These modalities are evidence-based practices proven to be impactful in treating lifestyle diseases and with the appropriate health policies and infrastructure in place, and significantly reduce health disparities, and increase health equity in minority communities like never before.
The Coldspring Community Center is the ideal location for our health enterprise and is situated in the center of the amazing Coldspring Newtown community, a health-promoting community with plenty of open space, including walking, hiking, and biking trails that are well suited for various health-promoting activities, something that has been missing from underserved communities, detracting from a fit and health-promoting lifestyle.
This property has been sitting vacant in our community for over 4 years and has been unsuccessfully awarded to several organizations over those years which has contributed to the continued vacancy and decay of this property. The building is owned by The Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development.
We are believing that this property will be awarded to Divine Fitness, Inc. and will become the home of the Divine Health and Wellness Center, Inc., a Center for healthy living, a medical fitness facility, and an enterprise that will be impactful in changing the status of our community in the areas of public and population health, and health promotion! We are excited about this future endeavor!
