GrowNYC hosted a special guest to NYC Farmers' markets in hopes to bring awareness about the need and productivity farmer's markets provide to communities. A video on YouTube shows Krysta Harden, the USDA Deputy Secretary visiting GrowNYC's farmers markets, walking from booth to booth, tasting and experiencing what New Yorkers are doing to provide healthy foods to their neighborhoods. GrowNYC has created or rejuvenated over 70 community gardens. They work with schools, public housing associations, and neighborhoods in an ongoing effort to revitalize vacant land into urban agriculture destinations. Many of these gardens are in urban places where garden and green spaces are rare and large populations of Latinos live. An article from 2011 showed New York City being the number ...
One day a week, cut out the meat. This is the slogan of the Meatless Monday's. Meatless Monday's are one of the ways to help K-12 schools' diets become more sustainable and healthy. Since the movement's conception back in 2003, famous supporters like Oprah Winfrey, Paul McCartney, and Ellen DeGeneres, have taken part to help bring awareness and various restaurants and organizations have jumped onboard as well. Through the years Meatless Mondays has become an international movement and schools across the United States have been implementing this movement along with the guidelines for the USDA’s National School Lunch Program. This free online cookbook gives 30 recipes on various tasty meatless options to start a Meatless Monday movement in any school. To find more ...
The local farmers' market in Tyler, TX is expanding! The 21% Latino east Texas town now has 2 farmers' markets, one on Tuesdays and another on Saturdays, both from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. The Rose City Farmers' Market was started by Tyler's Food and Farm Coalition. The market’s director, Carmen Sosa, has been working to connect farmers to the community to not only stimulate the farming economy but also to offer fresh, local food. Many residents in the area don't have easy access to grocery stores, limiting their healthy food options. But farmers' markets are a viable alternative. According to an article in the Tyler Morning Telegraph, the market accepts SNAP benefit cards and participates in the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Farmers Market Nutrition Program, which gives $30 ...
The Underline, will be a trail under the Metrorail providing green spaces and biking areas for all the space under the current Metrorail in Florida. This 10-mile trail will connect Miami, Coral Gables, South Miami, and Pinecrest, providing green space and the "longest urban corridor connected to a transit system". A matching grant provided by The Knight Foundation is helping pave the way for the idea from Meg Daly, to become a reality. Having green spaces and active play areas will help give safe access to a healthier lifestyle for the large percentage of latinos living in the South Florida area. To learn more about The Underline, and it's plans, read the full article or visit the website ...
Healthy eating involves knowing what to eat, and when to eat it. When a certain food is more available to eat, it is easier to find in local farmers markets.
Knowing where to find the best and most available food is sometimes a difficult task, unless you have this handy little tool. Just put in your state, and what season (month) you are in to get the local grown foods that are most abundant in this season. Get your local greens, corn and squash in the closest farmer's market. Make sure to buy what is in season, as these fruits and vegetables are freshest, most nutritious, and less expensive then out-of-season ...
Communities of color bear a disproportionate burden of risks for heart disease and stroke in the U.S. For this reason, the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association created EmPowered To Serve, an online mega-community of diverse individuals and organizations united in building sustainable cultures of health in communities across the country. “When people join EmPowered To Serve, they have the opportunity to assess their personal health, assess the health of their community or environment and work on an action plan to improve problem areas. The aim of the platform is for communities to achieve at least a 10 percent improvement in health, which is measured through a post action plan assessment,” says Clyde Yancy, M.D., Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine ...
When Latino kids choose to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less soda and chips, they set a good example for friends and family. But what if they can’t maintain their healthy lifestyle at school? Read what happens when youth leaders work with their school board to get healthy, vegan and vegetarian-approved lunch items into their cafeteria, not only to satisfy their desire to eat healthy but to empower other students to make healthier choices.
EMERGENCE
Awareness/Learn: For Sandra Garcia, it took planting a garden to realize just how powerful healthy food can be, not only for a community, but for a culture. “When SWU [Southwest Workers’ Union] started the Roots of Change Garden in 2007, I realized how beautiful it was to grow your own naturally organic food,” said ...
Colorado is known for it's large mountains, hiking trails, and outdoor beauty, but how well do the kids in Colorado know the benefits of living in this naturally beautiful state? Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) and the Greenway Foundation are growing healthy change for the future of their kids by providing more outdoor experiences through their Inspire Initiative. This 5 year $25 million grant program aspires to help 15 Colorado communities connect to the wild outdoors through close-to-home trails, parks, rivers, and woods. "That's an intoxicating vision of what Colorado could be. We could have a trail system that is second to none anywhere in the world," said Gov. John Hickenlooper, stating in the article about, his vision that in 20 years — within one generation — every ...
Better food equals better sales growth for supermarkets, shows recent studies. Selling lower calorie foods or healthier foods, may actually be good for supermarket's business goals. A study done over four years by Hudson Institute has researched the link between low-calorie foods and the sales of supermarkets, restaurants and some food companies. Their research has shown that these markets benefit financially when selling more low-calorific foods. Food deserts, where many Latinos live, even show growth in sales for lower calorie intake, as shown from the study's graphic below. There is still need for more healthy options in food deserts, and food marketers are still spending millions on ads that target Latino youth with high-sugar and high-fat foods. To find out more ...
