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CONCORD – Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) NH, one of New Hampshire’s leading organizations supporting healthy community initiatives, will provide funding, training and other resources to four New Hampshire cities and towns – Ashland, Berlin, Laconia and Nashua. Each community will receive approximately $10,000 in grant monies and over $80,000 of training and technical assistance over the two-year grant period. The grants were awarded to help communities identify and implement municipal strategies – such as adding bike paths, sidewalks and farmers markets – to provide more choices for residents to eat healthy and be physically active. Special consideration was given to rural towns and urban neighborhoods with health, social and economic disparities, factors that lead to higher incidences of obesity and chronic diseases. The HEAL Community Grant Program requires municipal management (mayors, select boards, town managers) to take the lead in mobilizing community members to work together – in contrast with traditional community health improvement models led by public health agencies or non-profits. HEAL currently provides funding and support to seven community coalitions, reaching more than 50 cities and towns in New Hampshire. Their work is helping to further the vision of healthy people in healthy places by providing more convenient, affordable and safe access to healthy foods and physical activity. Find more information at www.healnh.org.