Incubator grant opportunities are open for up to $30,000 dollars to support innovative advocacy approaches that align with Voices for Healthy Kids policy priorities. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Heart Association, and Voices for Healthy Kids are collaborating with a team of experts across healthy eating and active living with the initiative to mobilize people to help all children grow up to a be a healthy weight. Applications should align and support at least one Voices for Healthy Kids' policy priorities. The grants will be looking for innovative efforts in schools, communities and out-of-school time/early care and education and funds will be awarded 100% non-lobby funding. Deadline for the grant application submission is Thursday, August 18, 2016. Also, ...
Elementary schools in Miss. will now offer healthier school meals as new combination oven steamers will help prepare foods once made with deep fryers,according to local news. The two local elementary schools, Warrenton and South Park, had received funds to change the fryers to combi ovens with a 2106 Nutrition Integrity grant from the Miss. Department of Education office of Child Nutrition and The Bower Foundation. The school district had applied for the grant worth $18,000 per school, allowing them to upgrade older kitchens and outdated cooking appliances. Healthier school meals are vital for kids, who consume most of their daily calories at school.
Join our site and connect with others who care about healthy school food! The new ovens not only create healthier ...
According to new research from the American Journal of Public Health, Latino majority schools are more likely to be located near fast food and tobacco outlets than their white peers. In fact, researchers found that every 10 percent increase in the proportion of a school’s Hispanic students was associated with a five percent higher likelihood the school was within walking distance of places to buy both tobacco and fast food, researchers told Reuters. According to researchers, this is the first study to consider the availability of fast food and tobacco in regards to students' socioeconomic and racial characteristics. They also found that lower income students had a three percent higher likelihood that the school was in walking distance to both fast food and tobacco. To ...
The Advocate Sherman Hospital in the city of Elgin, Ill. (43.6% Latino) is the only hospital in the area that is offering the community healthier options, and now they are also taking a step forward to educate the community about the health risks of drinking sugary beverages. Since 2015, Advocate Sherman Hospital joined all hospitals in the Advocate Health Care system to offer healthier drinks in their hospitals giving patients, visitors and employees more low-sugar or no-sugar options. As part of the efforts to reduce consumption of sugary beverages like soda, energy drinks, and sports drinks, community outreach efforts to educate the public on the amount of sugar in beverages have also taken effect. People like Luis Villalobos, a nursing assistant with Advocate Sherman Hospital ...
A new city ordinance for healthier vending machines was approved by the Fayetteville mayor, requiring all city vending machines to comply with nutrition standards and label calories. The calorie content will be displayed on all products in vending machines across all buildings and property owned or operated by the city. According to Voices for Healthy Kids, the city of Springdale, Ark., was the first city to implement changes towards healthier vending machines on city property. In 2014, Arkansas was the number one state in the top ten most overweight states with (35.9%) being overweight, and nearly 760,000 adults being obese in 2013, costing the state millions in obesity-attributable expenditures. Universities, Hospitals, and businesses have also been working across the state to ...
How can your curiosity make you healthier? Researchers from the American Psychological Association (APA) found that when people's curiosity was piqued, they were more enticed to take the healthier action required to find out missing information. Multiple experiments were tested using the same strategies websites creators employ, like "clickbait". Where the strategy uses catchy titles or headlines on a website to encourage users to take an action, like "click this link" to learn more and find the answers.
Experiment 1: Fortune Cookies
In one experiment, participants were given a choice to pick between two fortune cookies: one plain and one chocolate dipped with sprinkles. The plain cookie had a fortune note of something personal that the researchers knew about the person being ...
According to a local news article, Boulder, Colo. two new council-initiated proposals may become a part of three different proposals set for voters to decide on in November's ballot. Back in July, advocates for the soda tax were supported with over the amount of signatures required for the tax to be put on November's ballot. However, language was debated as to how the tax would be implemented without having a taxpayer bill of rights provision, required to allow the city to raise local government tax. After working with local City Attorney Tom Carr, a single ballot title was created with implementation guidelines of the tax and legally defensible language to help defend against naysayers of the tax. The council has recommended placing the tax proposal on the November ...
Registered nurse Derek Dimas learned kids need to eat healthier to help decrease the high rates of obesity in his hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas (50.7 % Latino). By starting a program to help kids see fruits and vegetables as delicious works of art, students in schools across the city are having fun learning how to create and enjoy healthier snacks.
The Obesity Problem
In spring 2014, Derek Dimas, a nursing student at the time, was certain he wanted to make a huge impact on the overall health of his community of Corpus Christi in Nueces County. While taking an epidemiology class, Dimas reviewed data and learned that the city had record-high levels of obesity, hypertension, and heart disease. About 42% of local Latinos and blacks are overweight or obese, he said. “For ...
Since 2007, Oregon became a beacon of healthy school food, as a state bill helped remove unhealthy foods like candy and soda in vending machines and give the school standards on serving healthier school meals. Now new standards from the US Department of Agriculture will not be a big surprise to students in Oregon. The Oregon Smart Snacks Standard, also helped to implement the Federal Smart Snack program into schools across the state since 2014. The Oregon schools that have 50% or more of the population on free and reduced lunches, will also help serve free lunches to students over the summer months, helping all students have access to healthier meals and be more likely to grow up a healthy weight. Studies show that many Latino schools often offer less access to healthy vending, ...
