Healthier Ground began as a student-led project to better understand how food environments shape everyday choices. It grew out of a simple question: why do some neighborhoods make it easier to eat well than others, even when access technically exists?
To explore that question, Healthier Ground developed SnackMap, a GIS-based tool that visualizes the balance of healthy and unhealthy food options around schools and neighborhoods using publicly available data.
The goal is not to label communities or prescribe solutions, but to make local conditions easier to see and discuss.
Healthier Ground currently focuses on documenting early pilots and learning how tools like SnackMap can support thoughtful, community-grounded action. It is a project in progress, shaped through collaboration and use rather than scale.
Founder of Healthier Ground
Juliet is a high school senior at Castilleja School in Palo Alto, California.