Looking for free breakfast or lunch for your children during the summer? Summer meal programs are increasingly more available at convenient locations. Click here for an interactive map to find free nutritious summer meals throughout the ...
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Ensuring that children enter school at a healthy weight or maintain a healthy weight over the summer can be a challenge for Latino parents. Especially in states with large rural populations or in areas with poor transportation infrastructure. In Colorado (21% Latino), only 1 in 10 eligible children visit a summer lunch site for free summer lunch. Lunch Lizard is Colorado’s eighth mobile summer food program in attempts to increase the percentage of low-income children that receive free summer meals. When left to make do on their own during the summer, children go hungry or resort to quick, cheap and calorie-dense foods lacking in nutritional value; therefore, many children gain weight over the summer. Mobile food trucks provide access to free, nutritious summer lunches for ...
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Biking and walking are great ways to get the daily exercise that many Latino kids need. However, many of the areas in Latino neighborhoods lack safe playgrounds, or safe spaces to walk and bike. Florida is changing their states landscape with the plan of their new SunTrail Network, which will provide new biking and walking trails statewide. Governor Rick Scott signed and approved House Bill 2514-A for the new statewide Suntrail Network in Florida, bringing funding for $25 million for the new biking and walking trails for the area. The Suntrail Network, will be shared-use pedestrian and biking trails that are physically separated from roadways. Senate President Andy Gardner has supported the Suntrail Network and other trails in the area including the Coast-to-Coast connector trail, ...
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It's known that all Americans need to increase consumption of fruit and vegetables in their diet, especially those in underserved areas. USDA announced in a recent article, that residents from Philadelphia are using their benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), to purchase more locally grown food. In fact, an six-fold increase of purchases have been calculated since 2008. This means that previous food deserts and low-income populations, are eating fresher, locally grown foods. The Latino population in Philadelphia is just over 13%, with many living in low-income neighborhoods or "food deserts". Increased access to locally grown foods in farmers markets, with USDA's SNAP program is beneficial to having access to healthy food for the Latino ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
Read MoreCommunities 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 ...
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