WASHINGTON – The Alliance for a Healthier Generation and U.S. beverage companies announced that communities within the Mississippi Delta and Montgomery, Ala., area will be the next to take part in the Balance Calories Community Initiative, a focused effort to help people reduce the calories they get from beverages. By working to change behavior within these communities, the initiative seeks to help reduce beverage calories consumed per person by 20% by 2025.

This is the first time that the Community Initiative will be done in rural areas in an effort to gain new insights into the marketing and distribution of smaller-portion and low- and no-calorie beverage options that will best meet the needs of these communities. With support from the Alliance, the companies will seek partnerships with local organizations and community leaders to increase the scope and impact of the initiative and drive change in the marketplace for the health and wellbeing of their communities.

“We’re eager to take our Community Initiative into rural communities to see how we can drive changes that help people reduce their beverage calories and achieve more balance,” said Susan Neely, president and CEO of the American Beverage Association. “This is just one more example of how our companies are doing their part to address the complex challenge of obesity—by providing an even wider range of options and helping people to be mindful of their beverage calories.”

The Community Initiative is a focused component of the agreement reached in 2014 by the Alliance, The Coca-Cola Company, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, PepsiCo and the American Beverage Association to reduce beverage calories in the American diet nationally. This latest effort brings the number of communities that are participating in the Community Initiative to five. Communities within Los Angeles, Little Rock, Ark., and New York were the first to join the effort that will eventually include 8-10 communities nationwide.

The Community Initiative is an aggressive, multipronged approach in communities where beverage calorie reduction has lagged behind the national trend. Areas in greater Montgomery and the Mississippi Delta have among the highest rates of obesity in the country, so it’s important to understand the mix of actions that can make a difference in shifting engrained consumer preferences and purchases.