Tagged With "summer meal programs"
Blog Post
10 Stories of Transition in the US: Transition Milwaukee and the Victory Garden Initiative (transistionus.org)
The following story is the seventh installment in a new series we’re calling "10 Stories of Transition in the US." Throughout 2018, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Transition Movement here in the United States, we will explore 10 diverse and resilient Transition projects from all over the country, in the hope that they will inspire you to take similar actions in your local community. During the first two world wars, governments in the US, Europe, and Australia promoted the...
Blog Post
A Different Kind of Food Trauma - Surviving Meanness
It is traumatic when your family does not share the food they have. Not because it is in short supply rather it is done out of meanness of spirit. However, as a child, you conclude you are not good enough, you do not belong. It is painful to be excluded.
Blog Post
Access to Food Stamps Improves Children’s Health and Reduces Medical Spending [poverty.ucdavis.edu]
The Food Stamp Program (FSP, known since 2008 as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) is one of the largest safety-net programs in the United States. It is especially important for families with children. However, the FSP eligibility of documented immigrants has shifted on multiple occasions in recent decades. When I studied the health outcomes of children in documented immigrant families affected by such shifts between 1996 and 2003, I found that just one extra year of...
Blog Post
After WIC Offered Better Food Options, Maternal And Infant Health Improved (scienceblog.com)
A major 2009 revision to a federal nutrition program for low-income pregnant women and children improved recipients’ health on several key measures, researchers at UC San Francisco have found. The study is the first to analyze the health effects of the changes to the U.S. Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), which serves half of all infants and more than a quarter of all pregnant and postpartum women in the U.S. It comes amid renewed attention to poor...
Blog Post
Being Black in America Can Be Hazardous to Your Health
Kiarra’s struggles with her weight are imbued with this sense, that getting thin is a mystery she might never solve, that diet secrets are literally secret. On a Sunday, she might diligently make a meal plan for the week, only to find herself reaching for Popeyes fried chicken by Wednesday. She blames herself for her poor health—as do many of the people I met in her community, where obesity, diabetes, and heart disease are ubiquitous. They said they’d made bad choices. They used food, and...
Blog Post
Beyond Pantries: This Food Bank Invests In The Local Community (Rochester, NY)
Great article from NPR last year ( August 1, 2017 ) about Rochester, NY, food bank Foodlink's partnership with their local school district to provide locally grown slice apples for school lunches. by ANYA SACHAROW Wayne County, New York, is the biggest producer of apples in the Empire State. Yet, in 2013 public school children in the county were being served apples from Washington on their lunch trays. At the end of the lunch period, the lovely, whole Washington apples ended up mostly...
Blog Post
Churches Own Thousands of Acres of Land Across the U.S., and Some See That as an Opportunities for Farming Projects to Help Students and Families (NationSwell.com)
Over the past decade, there has been a push for ecological conservation within the Christian faith , motivated by concerns over how climate change might impact human welfare. That movement has coincided with an uptick in the number of faith-based farms , many of which equate divinity with sweat equity and its bountiful results. Where those two movements intersect sits Plainsong Farm & Ministry , a community-supported agriculture farm and ministry, located outside of Rockford, Michigan.
Blog Post
City (San Diego) Accepting Applications for Urban Agriculature Incentive Zones
Two years ago, the San Diego City Council unanimously approved my Urban Agricultural Incentive Zone Proposal. The program helps expand community access to fresh produce through a property tax incentive for qualifying land owners who allow urban gardens on their property. There’s a new website for the program (listed below). Applications and an interactive map highlighting eligible lots are available for the public to view. The program gives communities throughout the City an economic tool to...
Blog Post
Cooking with Kids: A Recipe for Family Bonding (stresshealth.org)
One of the best ways to get kids excited about good food is to get them into the kitchen. Besides the fun of making a meal, you’ll be cooking up some family togetherness. This is especially important if kids have experienced trauma or adversity, which increases the risk of anxiety and depression. Not only does nutritious food lower that risk, but cooking it together provides a sense of connection and belonging. It’s especially powerful when making a beloved dish passed down through...
Blog Post
Culinary Medicine: How Therapists are Using the Rituals of Eating to Heal Trauma
https://newfoodeconomy.org/culinary-meal-as-medicine-mindful-eating-trauma-anxiety-disorder/
Blog Post
Family Resiliency and Childhood Obesity
Abstract Background: Traditional research primarily details child obesity from a risk perspective. Risk factors are disproportionately higher in children raised in poverty, thus negatively influencing the weight status of low-income children. Borrowing from the field of family studies, the concept of family resiliency might provide a unique perspective for discussions regarding childhood obesity, by helping to identify mediating or moderating protective mechanisms that are present within the...
Blog Post
Food Aid and Nutrition Education for women reducing rates of domestic violence
What do food insecurity, nutrition, and domestic violence have to do with each other? A study on reducing domestic violence, came out of a study on nutrition in Bangladesh, run by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Did women who were given food (or cash to buy food) improve their household's health when they were also educated on healthy diets? Yes! But the women's status also were improved. This article is not solely about nutrition and food but empowerment of women,...
Blog Post
‘Food for Thought’ teaches cooking skills (nashuatelegraph.com)
Cius and Sako sauteed garlic, wilted spinach and mixed ricotta for baked ziti Thursday afternoon, as the Family and Consumer Sciences classroom filled with the chocolatey aroma of the brownies they had made earlier. They are just two of the students who have participated in Food for Thought, a program teacher Kate Paraggio started at the school last year “in an effort to provide a positive and empowering experience for students,” an explanation of the program said. “Middle school is a...
Blog Post
Fruit And Vegetable Prescriptions Encourage Children To Eat Healthy (scienceblog.com)
A new study shows that a fruit and vegetable prescription program can improve access to healthy foods for underserved children. The program, which was implemented in Flint, Michigan, could be replicated in other areas to address food insecurity in children. In August 2015, the Hurley Children’s Center – Sumathi Mukkamala Children’s Center, a residency training pediatric clinic associated with the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, relocated to the second floor of the...
Blog Post
Grateful Changemakers: Karma Kitchen (dailygood.org)
Imagine a restaurant where there are no prices on the menu and where the check reads $0.00 with only this footnote: “Your meal was a gift from someone who came before you. To keep the chain of gifts alive, we invite you to pay it forward for those who dine after you.” This restaurant exists, and it’s called Karma Kitchen, a self-described “volunteer-driven experiment in generosity.” Karma Kitchen was first opened in Berkeley, California in 2007 by volunteers inspired to seed the value of a...
Blog Post
Healthy Eating Research: Building Evidence to Promote Health and Well-Being Among Children (Call for Proposals 2018)
Purpose Healthy Eating Research (HER) is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) national program, which supports research on policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) strategies with strong potential to promote the health and well-being of children at a population level. Specifically, HER aims to help all children achieve optimal nutrition and a healthy weight. HER grantmaking focuses on children and adolescents from birth to 18, and their families, with a priority on lower-income and racial...
Blog Post
Healthy Eating Research (funding opportunity - Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)
Good nutrition is important to health at every stage of life. But often people from lower-income communities and communities of color lack access to healthy, affordable foods and beverages and the opportunity to make healthy choices. As a result, low-income families are disproportionately impacted by higher rates of obesity and other poor health outcomes. There are many factors that contribute to this inequity in access to nutritious food items and the ability to make healthy choices,...
Blog Post
How a federal free meal program affected school poverty stats [hechingerreport.org]
In 2014, schools had a new way to give students free breakfast and lunch, paid for by Uncle Sam. Instead of asking low-income families to apply for the meals, a school district could opt to give everyone free food if at least 40 percent of the student population was already on other forms of public assistance or fell into a needy category, such as being homeless or in foster care. This new “ community eligibility ” option was a policy change by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which...
Blog Post
How to Make the Benefits of a School Garden Meaningful in a Child's Life (kqed.org)
Amid the litany of education reforms that emphasize innovation and new methods, school gardens stand out as a low-tech change. In an era where kids' lives are more sedentary, and where childhood obesity has risen dramatically, gardens support and encourage healthful eating as a key component of children's physical wellbeing, which can aid their academic and social success, too. And as the consequences of food deserts and poor nutrition on life outcomes become starker, advocates say that...
Blog Post
How Watermelons Became a Racist Trope
Often, when I serve watermelon in a program or workshop, there is at least one African American person who looks askance at this fruit. On many occasions, people have declared definitively, "I don't eat watermelon." I have always known that this food has a racially-charged meaning for the African American community so I never try to convince them to try it. This essay, gets to the difficult and painful history of watermelon and its use, like so many things, in the oppression of African...
Blog Post
Investing in our Roots: How Gardening is Improving Native Health and Food Sovereignty at Standing Rock (indiangiver.firstnations.org)
When we look at history, American Indians are often the canary in the mine. When their health goes, it’s a sign of what’s in store for other populations. This is one of the many reasons behind the work of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s Nutrition for the Elderly program. Here, with the support of First Nations, this community is not only protecting that canary by improving Native health but taking active steps to promote food sovereignty. A food desert The canary metaphor comes from Petra...
Blog Post
It's not too late to sign up: Second Chance Youth Garden Community Supported Agriculture Program (CSA) program
Hi Everyone, Kristin Kvernland from Second Chance said that that they still have a few open spots left, so if anyone wanted to start next week they could pro-rate their share. Note: They don’t want to add anyone else after Week Two but they will have another season starting in March and will be sure to send the info for those interested in their Spring season. (See details in the original email below.) SIGN UP FOR OUR WINTER CSA SHARE! 1 CSA box = 1 youth employed in our program. The Winter...
Blog Post
More than 1 Million SNAP Participants Could Be Affected by USDA’s Proposed Waiver Rule [stateofobesity.org]
The vast majority of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants who could be affected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) proposed rule to tighten SNAP work waivers are in deep poverty and live alone, according to a new analysis conducted by Mathematica. The analysis, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, examines a proposed rule from USDA, issued last month, which would make it harder for states to receive federal time-limit waivers for SNAP...
Blog Post
New Research Analyzes State-Level Impact of USDA Proposal to End SNAP Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility [stateofobesity.org]
By The State of Obesity, September 8, 2019 A proposed rule from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that would eliminate the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)’s broad-based categorical eligibility (BBCE) would cause SNAP households in 39 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands to lose program eligibility, according to an impact assessment conducted by Mathematica. The analysis, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, finds that...
Blog Post
Parent Handouts updated and available In Dari, English & Spanish
The updated parent handouts are now available in Spanish as well as English and Dari. Here's the blog post with links to all three versions of each flyer. All versions of the Understanding ACEs and Parenting to Prevent & Heal ACEs parent handouts can be downloaded, distributed, and used freely. Both flyers were made with generous support from Family Hui, a Program of Lead for Tomorrow, who is responsible for making the Spanish and Dari translations available. These are updates of the...
Blog Post
Pasta Primavera: HOPE Style [HOPE Garden Project blog]
Pasta Primavera: HOPE Style Pasta Perfect Last week our crew made Pasta Primavera from scratch (noodles included) and it was wonderful to watch the kids take turns digging into the dough. It was my first time to take part in the Summer Program here at (click link:) H.O.P.E . and being a part of the process was a special treat. I remember the first time I ever dug my hands into something messy. . . it was meatloaf and I was a lot more hesitant and dare I say grossed out than our crew members...
Blog Post
"Prescribing" Fresh Produce Could Save $100 Billion in Healthcare Costs [CWA Flash E Newsletter]
A new study from Tufts University finds "prescriptions" for healthy foods could save more than $100 billion in healthcare costs and prevent millions of cases of chronic diseases , which account for roughly 86 percent of annual healthcare costs in the United States. The study followed adults between the ages of 35-80 who were enrolled in Medicare and/or Medicaid. It placed participants into two groups : one in which Medicare/Medicaid covered the cost of 30% of fruits and vegetables, the other...
Blog Post
Press Release — New Survey of California Community College Students Reveals More than Half Face Food Insecurity and Nearly 20 Percent Have Faced Homelessness [California Community Colleges]
Press Release — New Survey of California Community College Students Reveals More than Half Face Food Insecurity and Nearly 20 Percent Have Faced Homelessness March 7, 2019 Sacramento — More than half the students attending a California community college have trouble affording balanced meals or worry about running out of food, and nearly 1 in 5 are either homeless or do not have a stable place to live, according to a survey released today. Click HERE to read the press release and click HERE...
Blog Post
RWJF Hiring a Program Officer for Healthy Children, Health Weight Team
The program officer will design, manage, and monitor strategies and initiatives that focus on promoting policies that improve health outcomes for children and families and make healthier school environments the norm. We are particularly interested in finding candidates with experience in policy, education, and/or child and youth development. ( An editorial note from Gail - AND wouldn't it be great for the PO to be expert in the intersection of ACEs with child & youth development?) To...
Blog Post
School district looks to head in healthier direction (smdp.com)
The Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District agreed to move forward on a revision to its food and nutrition program at a June 14 board meeting, allocating money to improve Malibu HS and Samohi kitchens as well as offering more food and food purchasing options for students. To increase participation and revenue, the program proposed many options: freshly preparing meals at revamped Samohi and Malibu High School kitchens (an estimated $700k cost to replace kitchen equipment) to be...
Blog Post
School district turns unused cafeteria food into frozen, take-home meals for kids [KCTV 5]
(Meredith) – A school district in Indiana is working to provide take-home meals for students in need to ensure they have enough food to eat over the weekends. Elkhart Community Schools teamed up with a non-profit group called Cultivate to create a pilot program that will provide weekend meals for a small group of children at Woodland Elementary, WSBT reported. The district's goal is to expand the program to feed more students in neighboring schools. As part of the pilot program, 20 kids will...
Blog Post
School Lunch at 9am?
While we know that the national school lunch program is an essential part of students functioning, wellbeing, and achievement, the reality is that many schools serve lunch before 11 and even as early as 9 am (shout out to the 2 local Junior Highs in my childhood neighborhood in Queens, NY). Why this is nuts is a no brainer but as one student puts it: “It is way too early. People that have lunch periods at that time get hungry later on in the day which decreases our focus in classes,” says...
Blog Post
Study Analyzes Adolescents' Reactions to Weight-related Terms Used by their Parents
Conversations about weight can be particularly challenging for parents with adolescent kids, and insight into the characteristics of parent-adolescent communication about body weight is limited. Published in Childhood Obesity, this study from the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity interviewed 148 adolescents enrolled in a weight loss camp, asking them what words their parents typically use to talk about their weight, how those words make them feel, and what words they would most want...
Blog Post
The Kitchen as Classroom: How Food Helps Students Learn Leadership (yesmagazine.org)
The Detroit Food Academy works with local educators, chefs, and business owners to teach young people entrepreneurial skills. The kitchen is their classroom. And on this day it has the smell and sounds of home. It’s like family, the six student participants from Cody High School say. It’s the first time the students have prepared this meal. In fact, there are many firsts when preparing cultural dishes, and it’s one of the things the students find most exciting about DFA. Working with local...
Blog Post
Trauma Affects Your Relationship with Food & Your Body [huffingtonpost.com]
When I was invited to deliver the Keynote Speech on Trauma, Food and the Body at the “9th” Annual SCTC Conference in October I immediately pinpointed my biggest area of trauma, sexual abuse. I wrote about my sexual abuse and how it contributed to me developing an eating disorder in my memoir so this was a no brainer for me. Then I began to create my power point presentation. I decided to revisit the ACES test, (adverse childhood experiences), that not only identifies trauma but also...
Blog Post
Webinar: Defining and Unpacking the Social Determinants of Health & Health Equity
Join the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) on November 29 as it hosts the first webinar in its Culture of Health Webinar Series. Date/Time : November 29, 2018, 4:00 – 5:00 pm EST The National Academies report Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity identified 9 social determinants of health and how these determinants impact our health and the health of our communities. The report also defined health equity as the state in which everyone has the opportunity to attain full health...
Blog Post
Wed 4/24/19 2-3 p.m. California’s Farm to Summer Week 2019 Webinar (Click link to Register)
This is a webinar co-hosted by the CA Dept of Education and CA Dept of Food and Agriculture to connect kids with farmers and fresh foods. California’s Farm to Summer Week 2019 Webinar The California Department of Education (CDE) and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) invite you to participate in the upcoming webinar, California’s Farm to Summer (F2Summer) Week 2019. Participating is easier than ever! This year, California is celebrating F2Summer during the week of June...
Blog Post
Welcome to ACES and Nourishment
Adrienne and I are excited to launch this community where anyone can share research, articles, stories and ideas about the connections between food, eating, nutrition, obesity and ACES. As many of you know, the foundational ACES research emerged from an investigation into why participants in an obesity program were dropping out despite initially losing weight. It uncovered how participants' childhood trauma histories affected their weight, risk for metabolic or diet-related disease,...
Blog Post
Why Emotional Eating Can Be a Consequence of Trauma
Research suggests that trauma can be a cause of emotional eating, or the drive to consume “comfort foods,” to manage the negative emotions directly related to past negative events.
Comment
Re: Everything You Know About Obesity is Wrong
I also love this tidbit from the article: The most effective health interventions aren't actually health interventions—they are policies that ease the hardship of poverty and free up time for movement and play and parenting. Developing countries with higher wages for women have lower obesity rates, and lives are transformed when healthy food is made cheaper. A pilot program in Massachusetts that gave food stamp recipients an extra 30 cents for every $1 they spent on healthy food increased...
Blog Post
‘Building Wealth and Health Network’ Reduces Food Insecurity Without Providing Food [drexel.edu]
As the coronavirus pandemic forces so many to reckon with growing food insecurity and increased health challenges, the Building Wealth and Health Network program of Drexel University’s Center for Hunger-Free Communities is reducing food insecurity and improving mental health – without distributing any food or medicine. How? By focusing on group experiences that promote healing and help people save money and take control over their own finances. Parents of young children, who completed the...
Blog Post
How Grocery Shopping Online Could Help Close Equity Gaps (calhealthreport.org)
Late last month, California’s food stamps program, CalFresh, began allowing beneficiaries to buy groceries online at participating stores—a recent upgrade to the program that lets families skip potentially perilous grocery shopping trips during the coronavirus pandemic and limit the spread of the disease. Now, food policy advocates are asking the state to provide the same purchasing opportunity for pregnant women and families with young children who get benefits through WIC . “We applaud the...
Blog Post
Monica Bhagwan with Guy McPherson (www.thetraumatherapistproject.com)
Monica Bhagwan was interview by Guy McPherson of The Trauma Therapist Podcast. Here's a description of this episode. To read the rest of this introduction and to check out the interview of Monica Bhagwan by Guy McPherson, please go this hyperlink. Please know that Monica Bhagwan along with Adrienne Markworth are Community Managers of the ACEs and Nourishment community right here on ACEs Connection. We are proud of the work of our community members and managers.
Blog Post
Associations between adverse childhood experiences and weight, weight control behaviors and quality of life in Veterans seeking weight management services [sciencedirect.com]
By Robin M. Masheb, Margaret Sala, Alison G. Marsh, et al., Eating Behaviors, January 2021 Abstract Introduction A neglected area of trauma research with Veterans is the study of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). The present study aimed to examine the prevalence of ACEs, and to explore relationships between ACEs and measures of weight, eating behaviors and quality of life in weight loss seeking Veterans. Methods Participants were 191 Veterans [mean age 58.9 (SD = 12.8), mean Body Mass...
Blog Post
Doctor's Orders: Program Prescribes Fresh Fruits, Vegetables to Idahoans [publicnewsservice.org]
Eric Tegethoff, Public News Service (12/10/2020) BOISE, Idaho -- A pilot program that prescribes a trip to the produce aisle has been a success in Idaho. The Nebraska-based Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition evaluated the Idaho Hunger Relief Task Force's (IHRTF) Prescription for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables program, which offers vouchers to food-insecure patients with diabetes and prediabetes. It found significant improvements in participants' health; Julie Walker, manager of diabetes...
Comment
Re: Doctor's Orders: Program Prescribes Fresh Fruits, Vegetables to Idahoans [publicnewsservice.org]
Wow! What great research and program! Thanks for sharing this information.
Blog Post
Addressing Child Hunger When School Is Closed — Considerations during the Pandemic and Beyond [nejm.org]
By Mary Kathryn Poole, Sheila E. Fleischhacker, and Sara N. Bleich, The New England Journal of Medicine, January 20, 2021 T he Covid-19 pandemic has moved hunger out of the shadows in the United States. Record numbers of Americans, including one in four families with school-age children, don’t have reliable access to food. 1 Congress has authorized several innovative programs and substantial appropriations to respond to this crisis. Despite these efforts, food insecurity — a long-standing...