Woodburn, Oregon, is a small town south of Portland that’s miles away from a full-service supermarket. The Come N Go corner store, on the outskirts of town, provides hot pre-packaged foods and snacks for on-the-go families and farm workers who stop by on their way to the surrounding fields and farms. Find out how Elizabeth Montano, a mother with two jobs and the owner of Come N Go, made it her mission to give customers healthier options.
The Issue of Nutrition in the Community
Awareness: Elizabeth Montano had always toyed with the idea of opening her own shop Woodburn, Oregon (63% Latino), and when the security of her full-time job became uncertain, it looked like the time was right. In April 2012, Montano opened Come N Go, a convenience store that sells pre-packed snacks ...
In El Paso, a city located at the southwestern tip of Texas near the Mexico border, residents struggle with high rates of obesity and diabetes. A new restaurant initiative is encouraging local businesses to help children in the community make healthier choices when dining out. Jesus Roybal, one local restaurant owner, who was unhappy with what his own kids were stuck ordering on kids’ menus around town, set out to prove that creating a healthy, tasty kids’ menu can be easy to do and good for business.
The Issue of Healthy Food in a Community
Awareness: During a Sunday dinner out with his kids, Jesus Roybal was shocked at what he saw on the kids’ menu. “It was all fried, you know, it was horrible—and I was going to pay for it!” he said. Roybal owns his own ...
When clinic worker Tatiana Maida had trouble finding many healthy products in the small grocery stores in her Latino neighborhood in Milwaukee, she decided to do something about it. She teamed up with concerned parents, dietitians academics, and store owners to launch a group dedicated to bring baked snacks, hormone-free milk, antibiotic-free eggs, and nutritious grains and seeds into the community’s food environment. When this team of people from all walks of life worked together, they were able to infuse healthy food options into the neighborhood.
The Issue of Healthier Food in the Community
Awareness: About 80% of the patients at the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center (SSCHC) in Milwaukee’s South side neighborhood are Latinos. 77% of the adult patients are either ...
The Guadalupe neighborhood in Lubbock, Texas has seen some tough times. With many folks struggling to make ends meet, healthy eating has not always been a priority. As a result, obesity has been on the rise in children and adults. It took one determined person to get the community back to their roots of growing delicious, fresh foods. Lala Chavez partnered with a local university, her church, and ultimately the city to plant a community garden that would give the neighborhood with a space for learning, activities, and delicious tomatoes.
The Issue of Nutrition in the Community
Awareness: Lala Chavez’s family has lived in the Guadalupe neighborhood for generations. A predominantly Latino community on Lubbock’s northeast side, the neighborhood has a history of ...
Residents of Brownsville, Texas, struggle to find affordable, healthy food in their neighborhoods, and overweight/obesity rates were higher than 80%, said City Commissioner Dr. Rose Gowen. The situation spurred health officials, researchers, and community members to unite and create a farmers’ market that would serve up fresh produce to residents.
The Rise of Obesity as a Health Issue
Awareness: Downtown Brownsville, Texas, is home to many low-income families. Many of these families struggle with chronic diseases, like diabetes. In fact, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services, more than a quarter of children in Brownsville are overweight or obese. Brownsville City Commissioner and physician Dr. Rose Gowen saw this decline in community health. Eating ...
Research shows that children who consume too many sugary drinks risk developing diseases related to unhealthy weight. Health leaders, school officials, and parents in one community in California worked to create a plan to bump sugary drinks out of early-childcare centers and help kids fall in love with water at a young age.
The Issue of Unhealthy Food and Drink
Awareness: More than 44% of children overall in Madera County, Calif., are overweight or obese. Rates are higher for certain groups. Public health groups across California are recognizing these issues and working to reduce them. CA4Health, directed by the Public Health Institute (PHI) in California, is a statewide healthy-living grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention covering rural and small California ...
Dr. Ann Barnes talks to her patients daily about their health. When Barnes, an associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and Chief Medical Officer of Legacy Community Health, advises them to eat more fruits and vegetables, she hears common excuses. "'It’s too expensive, there’s nowhere near my house [to buy fresh produce].' That was weighing on me as a clinician," Barnes said. Barnes was worried some of her low-income patients would return to her office with illnesses or worse—pre-diabetes, heart problems, cancer—if they continued to not have access to fresh, healthy foods that would help them prevent disease. Then she had a revelation.
Big Idea: Farmer's Market at the Clinic
Houston, Texas, where nearly half the population is Latino, community ...
The nutritional quality of lunches is improving in schools in Fairfax, Va. But the news wasn’t all good. Parents saw that, despite healthier lunch improvements, sugary drinks remained stocked in vending machines. Sugary drinks consumption contributes to increased rates of obesity and diabetes, studies show. So several parents banded together and, with the support of a member of the local school board and students alike, made a change to remove sugary drinks and replace them with healthier options in vending machines at seven schools.
The Issue of Unhealthy Drinks in Schools
Awareness: The Fairfax School District serves around 184,000 students. In the district’s 25 high schools, Latinos make up 19% of the student body. JoAnne Hammermaster has two kids in the district and ...
An old, abandoned plot of land sat empty near the site of a triple homicide involving children in Brownsville, Texas. Could such a tragic location be transformed into beacon of hope—and health? The answer was yes, thanks to Dr. Belinda Reininger and others.
The Start of Healthy Changes in Brownsville
A weekly farmers’ market launched in 2008 in Brownsville, Texas (91% Latino). Dr. Belinda Reininger, assistant professor at the UT School of Public Health and head of the Brownsville Farmers’ Market, did the necessary paperwork to turn the market into a non-profit entity called The Brownsville Wellness Coalition. The new coalition had a mission to promote both physical activity and healthy food choices in light of rising obesity. The coalition son learned from local ...
