In 2010 Ohio became the first state in the country to turn the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Competitive Foods and Beverages Guidelines, which outline nutritional criteria for snacks and beverages sold in school, into law. Cincinnati Public School District began to make their changes according to this law in 2010 by re-evaluating their vending machine contracts. Jessica Shelly, Food Service Director, found vending machines all over campuses throughout the district. Many were not monitored well and there was nothing being done to keep track of the many different brands/types of machines placed throughout the district. School leaders decided to wipe the slate clean, getting rid of all vending machines and putting out a new request for proposal for machines with timers and ...
Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program participants in Hall County, Ga. are working toward providing healthy snacks in all schools. “The way the Alliance does it is right on,” explained Weirs. “We didn’t have any health efforts in place at the time, and we needed to know what a healthy school should look like. The Alliance gave us the road map, the tools and the recognition. They helped us identify where we were currently, where we were we going and what incentives we needed to get there. The Alliance made it so easy.” The biggest task Weirs, as the district's Wellness Coordinator, took on was getting sugar-sweetened sports drinks out of elementary schools. Many schools are hesitant to make this change because of their fears that sales will ...
The Hispanic Access Foundation (HAF) and the National Park Service are working to spread the word to Latinos about the natural beauty of the nation's national park system. In a blog from HAF, National Park Service Director Jonathon Jarvis said: “one approach to building a stronger connection with the Latino community, particularly young people, is telling the story of the Latino historical and cultural heritage preserved by the parks.”' In an effort to get more Latinos to national parks, Maite Arce, president of HAF and her family (the Arglebens) embarked on a four stop tour of some of the nation's finest parks. During the tour which took place in July of 2013, the family created a video blog and used social media to speak about national parks in Colorado, Utah, and New ...
Latinos make-up 41 percent of Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and 15 percent of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants. Lawmakers in Douglas County, Kansas, where access to fresh, healthy foods is a struggle for many low-income families, want to make it easier to use WIC and SNAP benefits to buy healthy foods at local farmers' markets. City of Lawrence and Douglas County commissioners voted to provide $10,600 each to help fund the dollar for dollar match during the 2014 Farmers Market Season. This means that a family would come to the farmers' market, scan their benefits card for $25, and receive $50 in tokens to be used at the market to buy tasty, healthy produce like lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, and more. The pilot program is set to begin the ...
Boise, Idaho has a growing Latino population, and many Latino families send their young kids to child care centers after school. Recently, child care centers in Boise received a low standards ranking compared to all other child care centers in Idaho, and lawmakers in the area want to make some changes. The Boise City Council voted in late April 2014 to draft a law that would encourage child care centers throughout the city to set standards for physical activity and nutrition, limit the time kids spend in front of a TV or computer screen and set aside private areas where mothers can breastfeed their babies. The ordinance will also include changes to child-to-worker ratios and training improvements (to include CPR/First Aid) for all workers. A new website would be created ...
Construction is underway for a new 62-acre park in New Braunfels, TX, a 35% Latino city just north of San Antonio.
According to the San Antonio Express News, the new park will provide a much needed resource for locals, especially those living east of Interstate 35 (I-35). Once complete, the park will be the largest in the New Braunfels park system.
Amenities for the park will include: hike and bike trails, fishing ponds, playgrounds, a splash-pad, picnic facilities and an amphitheater.
At an October 2013 groundbreaking ceremony, members of the Fisher family, for who the park is named after, expressed satisfaction with seeing the land where they grew up be used for something positive.
The park is scheduled to open in October 2014.
See the full news article here.
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In 2008, Rancho Cucamonga a small community in California with a largely Latino population, established Healthy RC, a city-community partnership aimed at creating a healthy environment for all. With the support of a Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Healthy RC was able to work more specifically on the issue of preventing childhood obesity, by creating opportunities for healthy eating and active living. Some of the community's key accomplishments from 2008-2014 include: establishing one of the nation's top ten Complete Streets policies;
winning national recognition for sustainable community development; and
being named as a #1 city in the Let's Move campaign. Now six-years after creating Healthy RC, the community continues to ...
Food pantries provide food when families can't make ends meet, but one big issue many food banks struggle with is providing their clients with healthy, nutritious food. In Grand Rapids, MI, where Latinos make up almost 20% of the population, food pantries in the area are trying to encourage donors to donate less chips and more healthy and fresh foods. South End Community Outreach Ministries (SECOM) runs a food pantry in the Grand Rapids area, and is among the few pantries that have walk-in coolers and refrigeration space. The pantry is able to store things like eggs, juice, milk and cheese. Those are the type of fresh foods and dairy pantry operators would like to see donated more often. SECOM is also addressing the nutrition issue by growing things like herbs and fresh fruits ...
In the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions' 2013 Prevention Status Report, the percentage of Texas adults and high school students who were obese was above the national average. Many health officials point to over-consumption of sugary drinks and sodas as a large factor in the state's obesity crisis. Because Latino youth tend to drink more sugary drinks daily than their White peers, the need to reduce soda consumption is especially pressing in the Latino community. In San Antonio, TX, the Metropolitan Health District is kicking-off a new campaign designed to encourage residents to ditch sugary drinks and choose water instead. Health officials are building a marketing strategy for a 3-year campaign that uses all manner of media to raise awareness about the health risks ...
