Philadelphia's Westside is home to many families who struggle to make ends meet, and also to put healthy, nutritious food on the table. An initiative led by People’s Emergency Center (PEC), Fresh Start Foods and Drexel University hopes to bring a little hunger and economic relief to these neighborhoods. The initiative, called Fresh Start Foods West Philadelphia, will provide fresh and healthy prepared meals for local schools while offering out-of-work young adults culinary apprenticeship jobs that provide living wages with benefits. Additionally, a retail store offering healthy meals to the community will be developed. The store is scheduled to open in fall 2015. Fresh Start Foods West Philadelphia has been boosted by more than $700,000 in federal and state grants, including ...
Many exciting food access initiatives are happening in South Carolina, where Latinos are the fastest growing minority population. In the city of Spartenburg, non profits and community leaders have transformed food desert areas by planting community gardens and doubling SNAP benefits at the farmers' market. But folks in Spartenburg wanted to do more, so they have created Harvest Park in the underserved Northside neighborhood. This ground-breaking shopping plaza represents all aspects of the food system. It will be the permanent home of the Hub City Farmers' Market, which will now be able to operate year-round. The urban farm at the rear of the property cultivates produce on a half-acre site, the bounty of which eventually ends up in the Hub City Farmers' Market’s Mobile Market ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has finalized two rules requiring that calorie information be listed on menus and menu boards in chain restaurants and similar retail food establishments and vending machines. Improved food labeling was required under the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, but it took a while for the FDA and the food industry to get in-step on this issue. Now folks will have more nutrition information provided to them pretty much wherever food is sold in hopes that they might make healthier food and drink choices. Take out food, snacks from a movie theater or amusement park, pastries at a cafe, and more are some of the new types of food that will now require nutrition information. Read the FDA press release here.
Read the FDA fact sheet on menu labeling ...
Studies show that when folks receiving federal food assistance like SNAP get vouchers to double their assistance money at farmers' markets, they buy more fresh fruits and vegetables. Because many lawmakers and healthy food advocates see this as a way to encourage families to eat more produce, areas across the country are bringing these "double-up" programs to their farmers' markets. In Oklahoma beginning in 2015, SNAP recipients will be able to double their benefits at the farmers' market at 9 locations across the state. Funds for this practice were provided in part by the 2014 Farm Bill, which allocated around 100 million dollars nationally to support these types of programs. In a local news article, Michael Appel with Three Springs Farms said he was the first farmer in the ...
What good is physical activity if you fuel up with junk food and sugary drinks? One leader in Arlington County, Va., realized that the absence of healthy drink and snack options at parks and public buildings was sending an unclear message to the community about the importance of proper nutrition for an active lifestyle. With overwhelming community support, he drove good-for-you options into vending machines in county-owned property and local schools. This created places that weave both nutrition and physical activity into the fabric of neighborhood health.
The Lack of Healthy Food in the Neighborhood
Families in Arlington County, Va., come from many backgrounds. Walter Tejada, an Arlington County Board Member and two-time County Board chair, moved to the U.S. from El Salvador ...
A hospital is a place for healing and promoting health for new moms. However, many hospitals across the country still offer a wide range of sugary drinks in vending machines, gift shops, and cafeterias. One hospital in Boston used a beverage policy to not only help patients make healthy drink choices, but also hospital administration, staff, patients’ families, and the local community.
The Obesity Crisis
Dorchester is a community in Boston, Mass., where almost 20% of residents are Latino. Many of Dorchester’s low-income patients get their medical care at Carney Hospital, a member of Steward Health Care, the largest fully integrated community care organization in New England, and a teaching hospital for nearby Tufts University School of Medicine, said Bill Howland, the ...
During the school day, lunch time is a chance for busy students to take a break, relax with friends, and refuel. Refueling with healthy foods and drinks is vital. At two high schools in the Chicago suburbs, a concerned school board member saw a disconnect between the emphasis on healthy eating at lunch and the large sugary drink selection in cafeterias. The concern turned into a semester-long discussion between students, food services managers, and administrators that resulted in a new beverage policy for the school district that reduced the number of unhealthy drinks and marketed healthy ones in creative ways.
The Issue of Sugary Drinks
Awareness/Learn: The Latino student population is small—but rapidly growing—at Glenbrook High School District 225, which is commonly known as ...
In Tulare County, many people work for little pay on large farms in California’s fertile Central Valley. Some of these families aren’t getting proper nutrition, leading to diet-related conditions, like obesity and diabetes. When the local food bank revamped their nutrition policy to encourage more fresh produce donations, Sarah Ramirez, a local health leader used her hard-earned knowledge and passion to support that policy, and implemented a creative way to get the valley’s extra fruits and veggies into the hands of those who need them.
The Problem of Unhealthy Food in the Community
Awareness: In Tulare County in California’s fertile Central Valley, fresh produce grows all over the place. But for many area residents, this healthy produce doesn’t end up on their ...
Because some kids tend to drink more sugary drinks than others, healthy beverage strategies have the potential to impact health in big ways. In Washington, community partners are teaming-up with schools and lawmakers to come up with ways to encourage kids to quench their thirst with water, not sugar.
The Issue of Sugary Drinks
Awareness/Learn: Childhood obesity is a problem in the state of Washington, which is 11% Latino. In 2012, 25% of Washington children ages 2-4 who received benefits from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) were overweight or obese, according to the state’s Department of Health. About 23% the state’s 10th graders were overweight or obese. Sugary drinks, like soda, juice, and sweetened milk, are a major ...
