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 ...
In a study published in the International Journal of Obesity, scientists compared data on contemporary children with those of the 1980's. They discovered that the rise in obesity among very young children is predominantly in families where the parents are obese. Toddlers as a whole have not changed. By contrast, obesity among adolescents has not been restricted to those with obese parents, but has occurred across the entire age group. The data suggests that parenting is the primary determinant of obesity in early years, whereas peer influence plays a larger role later on. Full Article ...
Latino and African American youth as well as individuals belonging to a local coalition of health leaders joined forces to launch Open Truth, a counter-advertising campaign that exposes big soda companies’ marketing tactics aimed at youth and communities of color. The result was a series of poems and videos created by youth, as well as dozens of ads viewed by millions, a website, and a viral social media campaign aimed at getting those targeted by soda companies to speak out against Big Soda. EMERGENCE Awareness: By 2008, Christina Goette of the San Francisco Public Health Department and Shape Up San Francisco (Shape Up SF), a coalition of community groups and leaders interested in preventing chronic disease and promoting better health for the region, were already very ...
Why walk to school? Is it safe? Local Safe Routes to School Programs are only successful when they are used by the public. The Ohio Safe Routes Academy is helping their community understand the reasons why to use these programs and offering free workshops on ways to implement the programs in their own schools. They will be providing workshops on, Walking School Bus Training, Crossing Guard Training, Non-Infrastructure Implementation, How to Conduct a Walk Audit, Girls in Gear, and many other similar topics. The workshops will be free and benefit not only students, but also families and all residents in Ohio. To learn more about Ohio's next webinars and workshops, click here. To find out what can work in your community to help make the ways to school safer, check out ...
Grass is greener on the other side, or maybe just a 10-minute walk away. Green 2015 and the national Trust for Public Land are working under the program Parks for People- Philadelphia to bring in new parks and green spaces to Philadelphia's underserved communities. A study from Green 2015 showed that one in eight Philadelphia residents don't have access to public parks or green space within a short distance from home. Eighty percent of Americans are living in urban or metropolitan areas, where these green spaces offer the closest way for many Latino kids to get the exercise they need on a daily basis. Philadelphia's new initiative is to create suitable green spaces within a 10-minute walk of every home in the city. This goal is under a program called Parks for People- ...
If hit while walking by a driver going 20 mph, the risk of death is 5%. If hit while walking by a driver going 40 mph, the risk of death is 85%. Pedestrian advocates in Atlanta (10.2% Latino) are trying to slow drivers down and make walking safe and accessible for all pedestrians. Pedestrians Educating Drivers on Safety (PEDS) teaches drivers and pedestrians about their rights and responsibilities and encourages transportation professionals to design streets for pedestrians rather than only for cars. One effort is to post SLOW DOWN signs. Community members are posting SLOW DOWN signs on their streets to remind drivers not to treat their neighborhood street like a highway. PEDS made these signs free and available at participating stores and events across Atlanta. So ...
SNAP 2 it! is copying similar programs from around the country, where recipients of the the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, can get each dollar spent on these fresh foods matched. A recent article, talks about the local farmer's markets involved in the program: Schlafly’s Bottleworks, Webster Groves Farmers Market, Cherokee Street Farmers Market, International Institute of St. Louis Global Farms, North City Farmers Market, and Tower Grove Farmers Market, as well as the Earth Dance booth at the Ferguson Farmers Market. By making the food more affordable and multiplying the dollar-for-dollar model, they hope to bring in a more diverse population for customers using EBT and other similar payment ...
