The Latino community in Portland, OR, along with the Hacienda Community Development Corporation (HCDC) have exciting plans for a new fruit and veggie venue with cultural roots. The Portland Mercado will combine elements of indoor public markets and farmers’ markets with the bustle and feel of many Latin American open-air markets. The Mercado entrepreneurs will offer a mix of goods and services, including culturally specific prepared and fresh foods and artisan and handcrafted items. The HCDC's reputation as a trusted advocate for the low-income Latino community will help promote the Mercado as a safe, legal, and reliable place to find goods and services. Update: The Portland Mercado is seeking healthy and specialty product vendors for the new market. The group is working ...
Estrella Hernandez grew up in San Antonio, a predominantly Hispanic (63.2%) city with a 28.5% rate of obesity in its population of over 1.3 million people. When she was in middle school she began to take a look around her city and found that there was a big problem with obesity and overweight, especially with kids her age. She knew that there had to be a way to get her classmates and peers to become healthier, while still having fun. Estrella came up with the idea of an interactive mobile app she titled WeWalk, which combined active living, healthy eating, and gaming. As she worked with members of the San Antonio community she began to discover that together as a city they could change the obesity epidemic while having fun through exercise. EMERGENCE Awareness: Sitting in health ...
The Denver Botanic Gardens run a community supported agriculture (CSA) program at their farm in Chatfield. In addition to growing food for their members, in June 2014 they began taking the food off the farm and into the hands of folks who live in Denver area food deserts, low-income areas without a full-service grocery store near by. The farm stand debuted on the first Friday in June near Denver Human Services, in the Sun Valley neighborhood, and will continue to operate there on the first two Fridays of every month through October. The second location is downtown on the 16th Street Mall, where it will operate for the second two Fridays of the month. To make their farm-grown fruits and veggies accessible to everyone, all the stands ...
More programs that double Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits at local farmers' markets are coming to communities everywhere. In New York, where almost 20% of residents are Latino, a Double Up Food Bucks program is spreading across the western half of the state. The idea is simple. When a SNAP recipient swipes their card at the farmers' market EBT machine, they are given tokens worth double their dollar amount for folks to use on fresh, healthy foods. Double Up Food Bucks are limited to fruits and vegetables sold by participating farmers at designated farm markets, said Lisa Tucker, co-founder and executive director of the Field & Fork Network and food systems educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Niagara County.
“We’re hoping that ...
Studies found that farmers’ markets allowing SNAP recipients to use part of their benefits to buy fresh produce with Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards increases purchase of these foods. So it follows that if SNAP users could double the amount of benefits they could use at the market, they might buy even more fresh fruits and vegetables. Many farmers' markets across the country are trying these "double-up" programs, and markets in Green Bay are the latest. Called the Double Your Bucks program, Green Bay's version doubles the first $10 people can spend weekly on fresh produce, at each farmers market participating. A handful of markets in the area have had EBT capabilities for over two years, but this is the first time customers using the machines have been able to ...
Healthy kids are better learners, according to the Action for Healthy Kid's Learning Connection report. In this report, you'll learn more about the positive impact that physical activity and healthy eating have on a child's ability to succeed in school. Access the report here. ...
When Cecil Whisenton of San Antonio, Texas, transitioned his career from the restaurant industry to the installation of healthy vending machines, he learned of the tremendous burden of obesity across the country. So, in his work with HUMAN Healthy Vending—a Los-Angeles-based company that has franchisees working to place healthy vending machines across the country—Whisenton brought the machines to local YMCAs and a San Antonio high school. He hopes to bring the healthy vending machines to more schools in the future to give kids healthier snack and drink options earlier in life. He believes schools facing the pending changes under the USDA’s Smart Snacks standards can turn to companies like Human Vending to redesign the snacking for students.
EMERGENCE Awareness: Cecil Whisenton ...
More folks in Honolulu will be able to purchase affordable fruits, vegetables, and whole grains at farmers' markets, thanks to new EBT machines at a handful of markets in the area, including the People's Open Market (POM) sites . EBT machines make it possible for food assistance recipients to use their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits at the market. 15% of SNAP participants in the United States are Latino. The City and County of Honolulu currently has four market sites accepting EBT: On Tuesdays, at Waipahu District Park and Wahiawa District Park; on Friday, at Ewa Beach Community Park and on Saturday, at the Kalihi Street parking lot at (Kalakaua District Park). Hawaii participation in SNAP is currently at a historic high. An average of 94,649 ...
Lonnie Sclerandi, a Spanish teacher and soccer coach at Austin Independent School District, downsized his home a few years ago and no longer had land for a garden for fresh produce. He asked his school principal if he could plant a small garden outside the portable building where he taught. The principal said, "Yes." Sclerandi then researched online about what produce would be seasonal for central Texas, and how to cultivate a garden in the area. He bought gardening tools and seeds with his own money, and got started. He tended the garden for a year. Then his students started to ask him what he was doing—which eventually grew a cool new healthy change.
How the Garden Started
Food service leaders at Austin Independent School District (AISD), which is about 60% ...
