The Fit Family Challenge, organized by San Antonio Sports--a local non-profit organization--has provided hundreds of families in San Antonio an opportunity to participate in free fitness events over a four-month period. The goal of this campaign, made possible through a grant from the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation and local sponsors, is to motivate San Antonio families to get active, eat better and learn about health and fitness. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Gl4FKL0CI&list=UUye2TxFjae2cCSSALF4ikWg&index=3 Visit the Fit Family Challenge Facebook page to find out about more about the ...
Many residents in San Jose’s low-income communities don’t have access to fresh produce or can’t afford it, which is one reason they experience higher rates of nutrition-related diseases than residents of more affluent areas. Some city policies make it difficult to bring new community gardens, farmers’ markets and mobile produce vendors into low-income communities. The Campaign for Healthy Food San Jose was a year-long coalition started in September 2011. They had many big dreams for the city, like getting healthier foods into the neighborhoods that don’t have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. In the end, the City of San Jose adopted a new Specific Use Regulation for the permit process of Certified Farmers’ Markets (CFMs) located on private property. The Regulation states ...
Schools in southern Florida are implementing more changes to promote healthy eating amongst students. Various schools have started providing a salad bar, changing the vending machine options, and introducing more fruits and vegetables. The USDA's Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act standardized calories per meal and what types of foods must be offered. However many schools in southern Florida are trying to go beyond that to create. They were making these changes before the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which has helped the changes become less objectionable. They have gotten rid of deep fryers in many schools, and began eliminating some high fat foods (like hot dogs, corn dogs, and fried foods). Although they are facing obstacles like the student's acceptance and intake of new food, they ...
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, have reintroduced Senate and House versions of the Local Farms, Food and Jobs Act, legislation that aims to increase access to healthier foods for consumers in underserved communities by expanding economic opportunities for local and regional farmers. The bill would provide funding to help farmers process and sell their food locally, which incentivizes schools and low-income residents to purchase it. ...
In January of 2013, Salud al Pasito was formed by University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) students wanting to emphasize the low cost, easy-to-do, family friendly, activity of walking to the Latino community. One month later, on February 16, 2013, the group held their first walking event. Every month the group organizes a walking event and invites a guest speaker from the medical community to discuss the many health benefits that can be derived from walking. Check out the Salud al Pasito Facebook page to see when the next event will take ...
Through a grant from the Let's Move! Salad to Schools program, salad bars are being implemented into schools in Cordova, Alaska. These salad bars have a variety of fruits and vegetables, mostly raw, that the students love choosing from. Foods like raw spinach, cut up cauliflower, slide cucumbers, corn, peaches, orange slices, and many other items are featured in the salad bar, depending on what seasonal produce they can purchase. The students are responding well because they prefer being able to make their own choices on which fruits or vegetables to eat, which results in less food waste for the school and more healthy foods are actually eaten by students. The success of salad bars, like this one, are dependent on the foods being cut up, fresh, and easy for kids to see. This all ensures ...
Saludable Omaha, a Latino Health Movement created by youth activists, began to see the affects that obesity was having within South High School. In the 2011-2012 school year student leaders from the Saludable Omaha Movement decided to address the issue of the lack of nutrition knowledge that affected student’s ability to make healthy choices at lunchtime. In order to educate students about foods being served, Saludable Omaha students began a Green is Go marketing campaign. This campaign highlights the healthy foods, while also drawing attention to foods that have less nutritional value, that can be found in their cafeteria. Saludable Omaha students brought in a nutritionist to assist them in finding accurate facts and information about the food being served in the school cafeteria. ...
Residents living on the Westside of the city of Ventura needed park space. Only three parks existed in their community and only 1.5 acres of park space was available per 1,000 residents who lived there. After several months of working with city officials, local residents finally convinced the City of Ventura to purchase a 2.4 acre lot which will be used to develop a park for the community. Plans for the park are being developed and now residents are working to make sure that city officials will see the development of this project through to completion. According to a blog post from the City Project, on February 4, 2013 the Ventura City Council unanimously agreed to purchase property for the development of a new park. Members from the community attended the meeting where they showed their ...
Parent organization Real Food for Kids (RFFK) aims to improve the nutritional quality of food served at the public schools in Fairfax County, Va. These parents want all students to get healthy, fresh food that will fuel their bodies for physical and educational performance. As stated on their website: “We know, just as you do, that when a child is well-fed with nutritious, real food, he/she is healthier, better behaved and better able to succeed in and out of the classroom.” By doing research and educating themselves, they discovered the volume and breadth of processed foods and foods with artificial dyes and additives being served at their schools, even though these foods were allowed by USDA nutrition guidelines for school lunches. The parent group advocated for a new ...
