Churches play a large role in our community. Many community members see churches as strengths in the community because they provide important services for the community and support to Wake County residents. Churches serve as a source of resources for community-driven initiatives and function to bring members of the church closer together. Furthermore, churches are a major source of social relationships for Wake County residents through the activities, programs, and functions that they sponsor.

Conversely, other community members feel that the churches are segregated and do not attempt to reach out to or socialize with members of other congregations. Some community members also commented that churches only provide activities, services, and programs to members of their own congregation and that they do not seek to improve Wake County as a whole. Many believe that if churches were more open and more willing to collaborate, more positive changes would take place in Wake County.

Project FACT (Faith Groups; Addressing health issues through; Community outreach; Together in the community) is a special project being developed in collaboration with the City of Raleigh, Wake County Cooperative Extension, NC State University and local churches to help increase the number of faith groups working together with public agencies to address health problems in Wake County. Project FACT provides educational materials on physical activity, nutrition, and how to start and sustain a health ministry.

Project FACT is seeking churches to participate in Southeast Raleigh on the Move walking program and other physical activity and nutrition interventions. The goal of Project FACT is to provide community-based educational and physical activity intervention opportunities such as community gardening, walking programs, youth entrepreneurship, lay health ministry advisor training and other fitness related activities.