About 62% of all Latino undergraduate students are enrolled in “Hispanic-Serving Institutions” (HSIs), an indication of the critical role these schools play in retaining and graduating Latinos and creating an educated workforce, according to new data from Excelencia in Education. HSIs are accredited, degree-granting public or private higher education institutions with 25% or more full-time undergraduate Latino student enrollment. There are currently 435 HSIs in the US and Puerto Rico, an increase of 7% from 2013-14. Of the 18 states that have HSIs, over 80% are located in California, Texas and Puerto Rico; Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, and Washington each have at least one HSI in their respective state. “HSIs enroll about 1.75 million Latino students; this is an increase of ...
In 2012, My Daughter's Kitchen started by Maureen Fitzgerald began cooking classes to help students discover how to make meals from scratch. After partnering with the Vetri Community Partnership, the program began to expand to an after-school cooking program and the program has expanded to schools across the years. Making fresh foods on a low budget, students learn how to cook and prepare fresh tasty dishes for eight weeks in the fall and spring classes. They are able to make the meals from start to finish and then taste test the dishes in a family-style setting. Now more than eighteen schools across Philadelphia are enjoying the after-school classes. Many teachers are getting involved as volunteers, and now some schools are able to offer two classes per week. Learn more about ...
Texas Grow! Eat! Go! program received the National Extension Diversity Award at the annual meeting of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities in November 2015. The award honors an extension program that contributes to achieving and sustaining diversity and pluralism. The national Cooperative Extension association and the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded the five-year program. Collaboration from AgriLife Extension, Texas A&M University, the University of Texas School of Public Health, and the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health created the program to improve physical activity and eating behaviors of families and children living in low-income and underserved areas of ...
A recent report by the National Center for Education Statistics reported that the racial gap between high school graduation rates remains large. There are wide disparities in the racial gap in high school graduation rates in the 50 states, especially between Latinos and non-Hispanic whites. The overall graduation rate of Latino high school students in the U.S. is 76.3%; the state with the highest rate is West Virginia at 89% and the lowest is Minnesota at 63.2%. Conversely, the state with the highest rate of graduation for non-Hispanic whites was New Jersey at 93.5% with New Mexico having the lowest at 74.7%. In Minnesota, the gap between Latinos and whites was greatest at over 23% while the lowest gap was in 2% in Alabama: Latinos 85%, non-Hispanic whites 87.8%. The ...
New funding has been awarded to train school staff to prepare and procure fresh farm foods for school districts across New York state. Funding from farm-to-school program grants helps develop and strengthen connections between local farms and schools. This in turns helps increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables for students through various programming like student gardens, farm field trips, or even hands-on cooking lessons. The communities receiving funding are Buffalo School District, Cooperative Extension in Schoharie and Otsego Counties, Rensselaer County schools, Saranac Lake schools, Seneca County Cooperative Extension and Broome-Delaware-Tioga BOCES. Daily consuming fresh fruits and vegetables are a great way to sustain a healthy diet for kids in ...
Health giant Kaiser Permanente will open a new medical school in 2019 and one of its goals will be to add diversity to the country’s physicians, especially in the state of California. The Oakland-based healthcare system, which combines a nonprofit insurance plan with operating 38 hospitals across the country, specializes in integrated care encouraging doctors to work in teams and use technology to control costs and give patients more effective coordinated care. The company has made a commitment to recruit more minority students, especially Latinos, and teach doctors how to care for a diverse patient population such as is present in states like California. Currently, many ethnic groups are underrepresented in medical schools. This has led to concerns that doctors might struggle in the ...
On December 9, the United States Senate announced the passing of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and includes health as part of the need for a well-rounded education. This is the first time that health has been included as a “core subject. Providing health education in school curriculum will help prevent obesity, tobacco use, alcohol use, and reduce other risky health behaviors. Also, teaching emotional and social skills can improve the academic behavior of students and increase their motivation to do well in school and on standardized tests. “This legislation is a monumental victory for our nation’s children and schools,” said Elaine Auld, the CEO of the Society for Public Health Education ...
Children in elementary schools all over the nation are following a 3rd to 5th-grade health curriculum called, Energy Balance 101, part of Together Counts, funded by Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation. The Healthy Weight Foundation has some very familiar CEO's funding the program from companies including PepsiCo, Kellogg, Hershey, Nestle, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Smucker and General Mills. Questions about the curriculum have come up in a recent article, as the educational materials do not point out the need to eat healthy foods, but instead encourages kids that they can eat whatever they like, as long as they "balance" their food choices with exercise. Unfortunately, many Latino kids are already dealing with obesity and possible health risks like pre-diabetes. Kids need information ...
The White House has extended an invitation to a Google+ Hangout as part of the 25th anniversary Year of Action, the initiative that made a call for national “Bright Spots in Hispanic Education.” The event will take place on Wednesday, December 16, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. EST. Over 230 Bright Spots were announced during Hispanic Heritage Month. The Hangouts will be broadcast live from Washington, D.C. and viewers can participate via the Web stream, or by sending questions in during or in advance of the event through Google+, Twitter, Facebook or email. This interactive session will provide an opportunity to hear from programs, models, organizations, or initiatives that are helping close the achievement gap, from cradle-to-career, for Latino students, and for discussing ways to continue ...
