Fresh fruits and vegetables are hard to find in East Palo Alto. Unlike its southern neighbor Palo Alto, East Palo Alto only has one local grocery store and one weekday farmers' market that sometimes only attracts three vendors.Many area farmers skip the market in East Palo Alto because they can make three times as much money in high-income areas and at markets on weekend mornings. A predominantly Latino city, East Palo Alto's one grocery store, Mi Pueblo, caters to Latino cooking, but many residents still travel elsewhere for cheaper groceries. Despite all this, advocates and community organizations in East Palo Alto haven't given up on getting their neighborhood on a healthier track. Before entering the East Palo Alto Community Farmers' Market located in front of the ...
In wake of high obesity rates, cities across Texas are making efforts to introduce biking as an alternative form of transportation. A news article from the Texas Tribune explains how initiatives like bike share programs, bike lanes, bike racks, and open streets events are making Texas a more bike friendly state. In 2011, San Antonio was the first city to introduce a bike share program in Texas and shortly after Houston, Ft. Worth, and Austin followed suit. In addition to installing bike share systems and bike lanes, cities like San Antonio and Brownsville, in South Texas, have hosted open streets events to encourage residents to get out and ride their bikes. When cities develop infrastructure for biking not only does it encourage an active lifestyle, but it's also good for ...
According to a news article from GoUpstate.com, School Administrators, educators, and P.E. teachers in Spartanburg County are recognizing the need to bring more physical activity to schools. In an effort to do so, in 2011, the Mary Black Foundation granted Spartanburg County elementary public schools, St. Paul's Catholic School, and Oakbrook Preparatory funds to implement the SPARK P.E. program--a program that gets kids to be fifty percent more active than what is typically required at schools. In addition to using the SPARK P.E. program, four Spartanburg County schools: O.P Earle, Houston elementary, Cleveland elementary and Hendrix elementary, are working with Project Fit America--a national organization that works with schools to get kids to be more active--to increase the total ...
Health officials in Madison County hope to see 115 new bike racks installed by the end of September 2013, in 20 different locations across the county. According to the BND.com article, Amy J. Yeager, a health promotion manager with the Madison County Public Health Department, said that most of the racks will be located near schools and parks, so that more children may be encouraged to ride bikes. After receiving a $300,000 grant from the state to promote healthy lifestyles in Madison, the county has decided to allocate $75,000 towards its Health and Safe Built Environment Initiative. It is estimated that the bike racks will cost $15,000, not including the price of the site assessment, installation, and concrete. The grant awarded to Madison County comes from the Illinois Department of ...
"Rethink Your Drink" began as a educational campaign captained by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Many communities across the country have used the campaign to educate folks on how sugary drinks affect your body and to identify healthy, tasty alternatives to high-calorie sugar-sweetened beverages. Currently, Riverside County, California is bringing medical professionals, schools, policy makers, and community groups together to fight sugary drinks through the "Rethink Your Drink" campaign. With the prevalence of childhood obesity in Riverside County at 38.2 percent (higher than California’s 38 percent) and, with scientific evidence that links consumption of sugary beverages with weight gain as being stronger than any other food category, the campaign has been ...
Folks who use food stamps (SNAP) to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers' markets in South Carolina might soon see their purchases double. During state budget negotiations, the Senate Finance Committee decided to include a provision committing $1.9 million to a program that doubles the first $5 of food stamp benefits when they are used to buy fresh produce at farmers markets. In other words, get $10 worth of veggies for $5.
The double dollars program, which has already been approved in a handful of states, has to get the O.K. from the federal government since it deals with a federal program, SNAP. Read more about the provision's progress!
Update: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is asking South Carolina for input on what food items would be ...
A well-written food plan can help a city ensure that healthy, affordable food access is a long-lasting priority that will affect the next generation of Latino children. The small city of Damascus, Oregon took a big step when they approved an extensive food plan for their community, called the Healthy Damascus Food Plan. A city planner, city staff, and public health officials began working on the plan in 2011. Through countless meetings with the public, various assessments, and research the group identified ways to write healthy food policies into the city's current and long-term goals. Among the policy recommendations in the plan were policies to support the growth of local farmers' markets including the acceptance of nutrition assistance, economic incentives to ...
San Jose City Councilman Ash Kalra wants the city to consider not providing sugary drinks and whole milk at city property and events. He says that the city needs to be accountable for the types of beverages they are promoting, noting that sugary drinks are associated with unhealthy weights in children and adults. Plain and carbonated water, drinks sweetened with pure fruit juice, skim milk, 1-2 percent milk and non-sugary milk substitutes such as soy beverages would be acceptable beverages under Kalra's guidelines. Kalra asked the council's agenda-setting committee on August 28 to consider the idea, but the proposal did not move past that ...
More folks can use their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for fresh, healthy food at farmers' markets in Pittsburgh, thanks to Just Harvest, a non-profit advocating for economic justice. The program works by allowing people to swipe their electronic benefits transfer card at the market and receive wooden tokens that can be exchanged with most vendors to buy food. Live in Pittsburgh? Find a farmers' market or farm stand that accepts SNAP near ...
