New funding has been awarded to train school staff to prepare and procure fresh farm foods for school districts across New York state. Funding from farm-to-school program grants helps develop and strengthen connections between local farms and schools. This in turns helps increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables for students through various programming like student gardens, farm field trips, or even hands-on cooking lessons. The communities receiving funding are Buffalo School District, Cooperative Extension in Schoharie and Otsego Counties, Rensselaer County schools, Saranac Lake schools, Seneca County Cooperative Extension and Broome-Delaware-Tioga BOCES. Daily consuming fresh fruits and vegetables are a great way to sustain a healthy diet for kids in ...
The first comprehensive map of urban agriculture in San Antonio is here. Created by the Food Policy Council of San Antonio's Urban Agriculture workgroup, the map helps connect potential farmers to resources for business planning. The San Antonio's Urban Agriculture workgroup hopes to connect the farmers with access to business plan writing, microloans, sales outlets, and affordable land options. Seeing where gardens already are is a first step to determining if a new urban farm will be a successful business. This is important for farmers, especially in low-income areas where access to healthier foods is a need. According to a recent article, many community gardens can be found in areas of San Antonio with less than $33,000 as the median household income. The Green Spaces Alliance ...
If you are thinking of changing your diet for the new year, why not take the VEGOUT! challenge? Houston and San Antonio city council members are asking people to join the VEGOUT! challenge March of 2016 to eat more vegetables for at least 30 days to benefit the health of their cities. Many Latinos live in both of these urban cities and have high health risks associated to diet-related issues like obesity and diabetes. Research has shown that diets that consist of more fruits and vegetables and less junk food are beneficial to a person's health. In response to helping San Antonio and Houston's health risks vanish, the VEGOUT! challenge can help participants in the campaign learn how to cook healthy vegetable recipes, include more vegetables in their daily diet and track all ...
A movement for healthier school lunches called, "National Take Your Parents to Lunch Day", is all about helping parents have the resources and tools to make sure their child is getting the nutrition needed in their school lunches. Kiwi, a magazine that promotes health for families, covering organic products, nutrition and wellness, helps support the initiative along with the School Nutrition Association. The weeklong initiative is held in October and helps parents connect with school officials, opening the doors for movements toward healthier school lunches. Parents and school officials can learn more about why healthy lunches are important by downloading a checklist for a healthier school lunch or downloading the free Lunch Day Toolkit. Parents can also enjoy a free ...
As the new year approaches, new healthier food options are being introduced into the Nevada schools district (NEISD). Students in the district are learning through a week long "National School Lunch Week" about healthier foods and being introduced to healthier options in their school lunches. The school lunches will offer more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and veggie-rich meals, options that will all be lower in calories, fat and sodium. School officials along with local and state leaders will be meeting Wednesday morning to discuss the importance of healthier school lunches. The law that authorizes child nutrition programs like the free school lunch program is due to be reauthorized. The school brought back its food services in-house, after ending the ...
This is part of our Food and Latino Kids: A Research Review »
Future Research Needs
This review of the evidence indicates that researchers should conduct additional and more rigorously designed studies, such as experimental or quasi-experimental studies with less reliance on self-reported data whenever possible. Future research should examine the degree to which increased access to local healthy foods impacts dietary habits and obesity in Latino communities. Researchers also should: Identify other multilevel factors (for individuals, at homes, in neighborhoods, counties and cities), that contribute to obesity and health outcomes. Such factors include stressors, lack of time or interest in preparing healthy foods, prices for healthy foods that far exceed those for unhealthy ...
This is part of our Food and Latino Kids: A Research Review » Increased access to healthy foods in low income neighborhoods does not necessarily ensure that it will lead to improvements in residents’ diets.
Some studies some no affect on dietary improvement
Two studies of low-income neighborhoods that have reported findings without racial sub-analyses have shown that increased access to healthy foods does not affect diet quality in low-income neighborhoods. A national study using longitudinal data observed that proximity to a supermarket was not related to diet quality in low-income young to middle-aged adult populations.27 In addition, the first controlled (one intervention neighborhood and one comparison neighborhood), longitudinal study of a PFFFI-funded project found that ...
This is part of our Food and Latino Kids: A Research Review »
More access to supermarkets results in less obesity risk
Greater neighborhood access to supermarkets catering to underserved populations is linked to a lower prevalence of obesity in adults and children. Evidence from systematic reviews, longitudinal and cross-sectional studies collectively show the relationship between greater access to supermarkets and lower prevalence of obesity. Only two studies have analyzed the relationship between lack of local supermarket access and obesity over a period of time (2 years and 4 years). The data from these studies show mixed evidence in adults and children. One study reported that an increase in accessible supermarkets was associated with decreased BMI for adults who moved ...
This is part of our Food and Latino Kids: A Research Review »
Access to farmers markets is lacking among Latinos
In the past decade, the number of farmers’ markets in the United States has more than doubled.51 However, many of these markets had not previously been accessible to underserved and Latino populations.
Efforts to increase number of farmers markets
A number of food financing initiatives have increased the number of farmers’ markets operating in underserved communities.52 For example, through the activities of community groups, there are nearly a dozen farmers’ markets in underserved neighborhoods in Oakland, California. Latinos comprise 25 percent of these communities.53 Similarly, the Y USA’s Pioneering Healthier Communities initiative prompted the ...
