The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides low-income moms with young children and moms-to-be with nutrition education, health care referrals, and vouchers for food. Latinos make-up 41 percent of WIC participants nationwide. The guidelines for buying food with WIC benefits can be tricky, and that's one of the reasons Andrea Little says she and her classmate at the University of Southern Florida and business partner Hector Angus wanted to open 1Apple Grocery in Plant City, Florida. In Plant City, almost 20% of the population is Latino. Besides helping to bring healthy food access to the community, Little and Angus say they wanted to make it easier for WIC participants to purchase nutritious food that followed federal ...
The Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) recently kicked off the Triple Play Million Minutes in Motion Tour, to get thousands of kids across the country to participate in 1,000,000 minutes of physical activity. The six week mobile tour, which kicked off on July 4th 2014, will reach kids attending BGCAs in 20 cities, with activities like obstacle courses, hula hoops, and dodgeball, according to a BGCA blog post. The BGCA focuses on health lifestyles as one of their three main outcomes. The Triple Play initiative is sponsored by Coca-Cola and the Wellpoint Foundation. Visit the link below to learn more: Triple Play-One Million Minutes in Motion ...
Great changes are happening when it comes to bike lane improvements. From Austin, Texas to Chicago Illinois, protected bike lanes are beginning to pop up across the US, according to a Peopleforbikes blog post. It's rethinking our streets to accommodate more users says, David Vega-Barachowitz of the National Association of City Transportation Officials, in the article. Because protected bike lanes offer more safety to bicyclists than painted bike lanes, protected bike lanes may be the key to inspiring millions of Americans & Latinos to ride their bikes instead of driving to most places. "Cities all over the country painted stripes on busy streets, and when these lanes attract only a modest increase in bicyclists, city officials conclude there is only limited interest in ...
National Council of La Raza (NCLR) has released a new report on July 15, 2014 on Latnio Health. The report, "An Inside Look at Chronic Disease and Health Care among Hispanics in the United States," examines the challenges in preventing and managing chronic diseases in the Latino community. With support from Boehringer Ingelheim and in partnership with public health consulting firm John Snow, Inc.(JSI), NCLR gathered information about the rates of chronic disease among the Hispanic community, the challenges and motivators faced in prevention and management efforts and the roles of health care providers and community resources in helping Latinos handle health issues and chronic conditions. The report is based on written surveys and focus groups of patients at community-based ...
14% of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits recipients are Latino families. Many of these families in the Columbus, Ohio area will soon be able to buy more fresh fruits and vegetables at their local farmers' market, thanks to new funds from the County. The Franklin County commissioners are expected to approve spending $10,000 to help low-income county residents buy goods at local farmers markets. Modeled after a program that began last year at the Downtown Pearl Market, the program will allow people who receive SNAP benefits, to use them at six area farmers markets, including Pearl Market. The program, called Veggie SNAPs, also will provide a matching amount of up to $10 for buying fresh local food with food-stamp benefits. Benefits are loaded onto an ...
A total of $43 million from an offshore oil and gas royalty fund will be allocated towards recreation and conservation projects---like parks---throughout the nation. The announcement was made during a July 8, 2014 meeting, at Gateway Park in Fort Worth Texas, where Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, accompanied by Fort Worth's Mayor Betsy Price, spoke of the need to reauthorize federal funding for open space projects like trails, parks, playgrounds, greenways and urban wildlife refuges. In an article from the Washington Post, Price, who is the co-chair of the City Parks Alliance's Mayors for Parks Coalition---a group of mayors who champion the cause of urban parks and open spaces, said: "As we’re growing in density with people returning to urban centers, it’s critical that ...
More than 16% of Hispanic adults experienced a mental illness during the previous year, and communities of color are more likely to lack access to care to meet their behavioral health needs, according to federal data. This makes mental health awareness important in Hispanic communities. That's why the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health offer new Spanish-language resources: The website MentalHealth.gov en Español offers access to resources and information about prevention, treatment, and recovery from mental health conditions.
The Toolkit for Community Conversations About Mental Health (Diálogos comunitarios acerca de la salud mental) helps communities start vital ...
When a large grocery store closed in Southeast Raleigh, the community was left with few places to buy fresh produce. Banding together to brainstorm solutions, the Fertile Ground Food Cooperative was born. Fertile Ground Food Cooperative is a Southeast Raleigh-based multi-stakeholder cooperative that highlights the community’s entrepreneurial spirit, helps create pathways to living-wage jobs, increases access to healthy/affordable food, and fosters collective ownership. Board members gathered information and researched cooperatives during 2012. In early 2013, the founders settled on creating a cooperative in which producers, consumers and workers play equal roles. The co-op will be opening up for membership at the end of July 2014. Membership is $100 and can be paid in ...
Children with a greater number of healthy food outlets near their homes had a reduced likelihood of being overweight or obese, finds an Australian study published in American Journal of Health Promotion According to results from the study, children who had access to at least one healthy food outlet within about half a mile of their home had a 38 percent decreased risk of being overweight or obese compared to those who did not. Read more about the ...
