In New York City the children's museum has dreamed-up a creative way to tackle rising rates of childhood obesity. The Children’s Museum of Manhattan in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health is hoping to teach children to love fruits and vegetables through hands-on learning. The permanent exhibit features a food-based curriculum called “Eat Play Grow,” which comes with ready-made lessons in both Spanish and English on things like portion control, healthy drinks, exercising and sleeping. While similar efforts have been aimed at older school-age children, this program is devised specifically to reach kids under-5 through interactive displays, classes infused with art and music, and workshops for their parents. And the learning doesn't stop when ...
A group of Texas Tech University students wanted to get some hands-on coaching experience. Jeff Key, an instructor at Texas Tech, worked to give the students in-class instruction and an opportunity to coach/teach and do community service at the same time—a unique effort that resulted in the development of after-school fitness and mentoring programming at McWhorter Elementary School in Lubbock, Texas.
Emergence
Awareness: Jeff Key, an instructor and coordinator of community outreach for the Department of Health, Exercise Science, and Sport Sciences at Texas Tech University (TTU), knew that obesity was a problem among the community. He was especially concerned with how it was affecting younger generations. “We were concerned that almost 35% of elementary kids were overweight or ...
Hispanics make up almost half of the total population in Houston and many live in areas that lack easy access to grocery stores and fresh produce. To grow lasting healthy changes in these communities, teamwork is essential. One mom, determined to bring fresh fruits and vegetables to folks in inner-city Houston, teamed up with a food pantry that had been looking for a creative way to distribute fresh fruits and vegetables to families in need. This is the story of a unique partnership that led to students being sent home from school with a bag fresh produce each week to take to their homes in underserved Houston neighborhoods—and ended in kids demanding extra kale smoothies.
EMERGENCE
Awareness/Learn: When Lisa Helfman and her husband, Jonathon, wanted their family to eat healthier, ...
Woodburn, Oregon, is a small, mostly Latino town south of Portland that’s miles away from a full-service supermarket. The Come N Go corner store, on the outskirts of town, provides hot pre-packaged foods and snacks for on-the-go families and farm workers who stop by on their way to the surrounding fields and farms. Find out how the owner of Come N Go, a Latina mother with two jobs, made it her mission to give customers healthier options.
EMERGENCE
Awareness: Elizabeth Montano had always toyed with the idea of opening her own shop, and when the security of her full-time job became uncertain, it looked like the time was right. In April 2012, Montano opened Come N Go, a convenience store that sells pre-packed snacks and drinks, as well as some hot items like soup and burritos that ...
In El Paso, a largely Latino city located at the southwestern tip of Texas near the Mexico border, the Latino cultural influence can be found in architecture, décor, events—and especially food. But city residents struggle with high rates of obesity and related diseases, including diabetes. A new restaurant initiative is encouraging local businesses to help children in the community make healthier choices when dining out. One local restaurant owner in particular, who was unhappy with what his own kids were stuck ordering on kids’ menus around town, set out to prove that creating a healthy, tasty kids’ menu can be easy to do and good for business.
EMERGENCE
Awareness: During a Sunday dinner out with his kids, Jesus Roybal was shocked at what he saw on the kids’ menu. “It was ...
Obesity rates have nearly doubled over the past 15 years in Nebraska. The youth obesity rate in Douglas County, which includes the state’s largest city, Omaha, is even higher (28%) than the state’s overall rate. A group of Latino youth advocates recognized obesity’s pervasiveness in their high-school ranks in Omaha and decided to help their peers improve their nutritional knowledge and make healthier food choices at school. This effort yielded a novel “Green is Go” marketing campaign that simultaneously highlights healthy food options in school cafeterias and stigmatizes less healthy options. Not only did the students conceptualize this campaign, they worked with school and other officials to get it implemented in their cafeteria.
EMERGENCE
Awareness: Omaha, Neb., has a ...
Kids at Westwood Elementary School in Houston lacked programs to keep them active after classes ended each day. Samuel Karns, a health fitness instructor/coach at Westwood, decided to step up to the challenge and find a way to bring more exercise and sport related activities to keep his students moving. His work resulted in a series of afterschool fitness clubs, an afterschool intermural sports program, a student-led school health advisory council (K-SHAC) for elementary-school students, an action based learning lab and a one-of-a-kind district-wide initiative to bring physical activity to sixth-graders.
Emergence
Awareness: In fall 2009, Samuel Karns was only a few months into his job as a health fitness instructor/coach at Westwood Elementary School in the Spring Branch ...
When clinic worker Tatiana Maida had trouble finding many healthy products in the small grocery stores in her Latino neighborhood in Milwaukee, she decided to do something about it. She teamed up with concerned parents, dietitians academics, and store owners to launch a group dedicated to bring baked snacks,hormone-free milk, antibiotic-free eggs, and nutritious grains and seeds into the community’s food environment. When this team of people from all walks of life worked together, they were able to infuse healthy food options into the neighborhood.
EMERGENCE
Awareness: About 80% of the patients at the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center (SSCHC) in Milwaukee’s South side neighborhood are Latinos. 77% of the adult patients are either obese or overweight, and frequently ...
The Guadalupe neighborhood in Lubbock, Texas has seen some tough times. With many folks struggling to make ends meet, healthy eating has not always been a priority. As a result, obesity has been on the rise in children and adults. It took one determined Latina to get the community back to their roots of growing delicious, fresh foods. Lala Chavez partnered with a local university, her church, and ultimately the city to plant a community garden that would give the neighborhood with a space for learning, activities, and delicious tomatoes.
EMERGENCE
Awareness: Lala Chavez’s family has lived in the Guadalupe neighborhood for generations. A predominantly Latino community on Lubbock’s northeast side, the neighborhood has a history of poverty. “My grandfather was the first one to ...
