This summer, when families set out to visit our country's variety of beautiful national parks, they won't have to sacrifice health for a fun vacation. The National Park Service announced a new nationwide plan in June 2013 that would ensure all its parks offer healthy food and beverage choices. Called the Healthy and Sustainable Food Program, the new standards include requirements that fruits and vegetables be offered with all entrees or as a la carte side dishes. Low-fat and low-sodium options must be available as well.The park service worked with the companies that supply foods and beverages to come up with new menu items and is encouraging companies to use locally grown and raised food when possible. About 23 million people buy food at national parks each year; what can they ...
Hispanics make up almost two-thirds of people living in South Los Angeles, a community where chronic disease rates are high and fresh, affordable food is hard to find. A partnership between a family health clinic and a local non-profited focused on getting folks good food has led to doctors at the clinic writing prescriptions for a new kind of medicine: fresh fruits and vegetables. St. John's Well Child and Family Center has partnered with Community Services Unlimited to run weekly produce stands at two of its sites for patients, families and clinic staff. Besides making healthy food available, doctors are writing their patients "prescriptions" to purchase the produce. The prescriptions reinforce the fact that diet can be as important as medication when it comes to feeling ...
One Hispanic community in East Austin has been making healthy changes not only at home, but in their neighborhood as well. Manantial de Salud -- the Dove Springs Health Network -- is dedicated to promoting well-being in the Dove Springs community of Austin, through healthy lifestyles and positive environments. They have community-wide campaigns targeted at eliminating sugary drinks and getting more active. This summer, Manatial de Salud and its partners at GO! Austin / VAMOS! Austin (GAVA) in Dove Springs, the Sustainable Food Center, Urban Roots, and Austin Parks and Recreation Department are coming together to host a neighborhood food stand. The Neighborhood Farm Stand will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00p.m. every Wednesday beginning June 5 through July 17 at the Dove ...
The R and G in "R&G Family Grocers" stand for "real" and good" and that's exactly the kind of food the mobile grocery will be bringing to folks in Northwest Tulsa. With a growing Latino population, families in this area have to travel more than five miles to the nearest grocery store, which takes hours by bus. "All the grocery stores around here are just little convenience stores and you just buy nothing but junk food in them," said one neighbor. A mobile food store is planning to bring healthier food options to this community. The store is inside a trailer that is pulled around town by a truck. Once or twice a week it will bring milk, eggs, meat and fresh fruits and vegetables into the neighborhood. The hope is to improve the health of folks in Northwest Tulsa. The store owners ...
An ad campaign created as a collaborative effort of First 5 Contra Costa and Healthy and Active Before 5, depicts soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages with sharp, scary teeth. Sugar Bites is a social marketing campaign that aims to encourage parents to provide their children with healthier beverages. The ads are featured in both English and Spanish, in order to reach as many people as possible. Advertisements like these can help educate people and use the same tactics large corporations use to advertise unhealthy drinks and snacks. It is hoped that these memorable ads will stick with people, to lower the amount of soda intake in Contra Costa, Ca., which currently greatly affects the amount of tooth decay, obesity, and type II diabetes in children. Sugar Bites was posted ...
Irma Rivera, a mother living in Santa Anna, had nowhere to take her children to play after school. Because school playgrounds were locked up during after school hours she would take her kids to play in the school parking lot. It was when Irma saw a child almost get hit by a car that she realized, “enough was enough,” something had to be done to have more playspace for her children. Having already attended some Latino Health Access diabetes classes at a local school, Irma decided to approach the organization to ask for their support. She asked, “can we organize the moms and get a park,” and Latino Health Access’ response was, “with your help, we will.” Moms and children approached city council members and expressed the need for a park in their community. There was a ...
The World Fit Walk organization, a program sponsored by Olympic athletes, is working to get children moving in 50 schools across the United States. In a news article, Education Week reports that close to 38,000 students would be logging the amount of miles they walked over the course of a six week period. At the end of the six week period students would compare their results with other schools in the area. Those who log 120 miles or more are eligible to receive the President's Active Lifestyle Achievement Award. To learn more about the World Fit Walk organization visit their webpage and Facebook page. Read about how Daniel Herrera a student from Los Olivos School worked towards achieving his goal by participating in the World Fit Walk ...
Through the Healthy Eating, Active Communities program, a group of teenagers living in Chula Vista joined efforts to improve their neighborhood park. To bring about this transformation, in June 2007, local promotoras---Spanish speaking community health workers---mentored a group of five high school students, teaching them leadership development and advocacy skills. Students then interviewed local residents and surveyed the park for needed improvements. Soon city officials were invited to attend a public meeting held at the park. Citizens expressed their concerns, which were later presented to the city council, by the group of students and promotoras. By September 2008, Lauderback Park was officially reopened. Students and promotoras involved in this effort were recognized for their ...
What started out as a small community effort to clean up a neighborhood, has now evolved into an innovative self-sustaining, green park project. The idea of building a park near WAYS elementary school first came to Heal the Bay and Kendra Okonkwo, founder of the WAYS elementary charter school in South LA, after conducting an environmental assessment of the WAYS neighborhood. Okonkwo and Refugio Mata, a program organizer for Heal the Bay, noticed an abandoned alley behind the WAYS school. Because park space in the area was limited, they decided to work with community residents and form collaborations with local organizations, to develop plans for a park. Students from WAYS and community members offered their support by providing input, participating in neighborhood meetings, and ...
