Community Garden Program during COVID-19 Helps Families Make the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice

Jan 28, 2021 COVID-19 made the 2020 summer garden program in Plymouth, Massachusetts, uncertain, but UMass Extension’s SNAP-Ed partners found a way to make it succeed, and how! This 4-year-old community gardening program reinvented itself and, in the process, provided safe and healthy food for many families and households in town.

Grambling Residents Learn Lifelong Behaviors to Improve Nutrition and Physical Activity

Jan 29, 2021 Grambling Healthy Community Coalition helps residents change their health status by improving food choices and increasing physical activity. Many entities are working together to provide nutritional programs, physical activity opportunities, community camaraderie, and support for each other.

Improving the Health of Aging Nevadans

Jan 29, 2021 Older adults in the state of Nevada are resilient. Despite current social distancing orders, older adults want to continue to improve their health and quality of life. The SNAP-Ed Healthy Aging strategy has continued delivering nutrition and physical education to older adults with the support of contractors, collaborators, and counties in Nevada. 

Learning the Alphabet through Edible ABC’s 

Mar 04, 2021 Preschools and other early learning centers are critical settings for obesity prevention efforts. The preschool years are an important time when young children are learning to develop healthy habits. In FY19, Maryland SNAP-Ed partnered with over 213 early education sites and reached 9,561 preschool-aged kids through face-to-face education and multi-level interventions.

Cooking Alone…Together! SNAP-Ed in Massachusetts Reaches New Audiences by Moving Online

Feb 04, 2021 Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters in Massachusetts (a SNAP-Ed partner) provides practical food skills education for individuals to purchase and prepare foods that meet their nutrition, budget, and personal needs. Since this program began in Massachusetts in 1994, over 45,000 people learned these crucial skills and found solutions for common struggles such as limited time, money, and feeding picky kids. 

Grocery Stores Receive Healthy Drink Recipes

Feb 04, 2021 The goal of Rethink Your Drink Nevada (RYD) is to promote healthy beverage choices and decrease the intake of sugary drinks among households with young, school-age children (6-12 years-old). In 2017, RYD started to work with grocery stores in low-income communities to promote choosing healthy drinks where families shop. The team distributed free recipes for low-cost, simple, and healthy drinks at in-store events.  

Building School District Capacity in Physical Activity Virtually Reaches 18,000 Students!

Mar 16, 2021 Six hundred teachers at Alvord Unified in Riverside County discovered ways to make physical activity breaks fun in the virtual classroom. They used lessons from the CalFresh Healthy Living, University of California Cooperative Extension (CFHL, UCCE) team. The team provided a virtual professional development training for teachers, which helped them effectively reach 18,000 students.

Active In-Home Learning: Virtual, Live Physical Activity in Orland, CA

Apr 15, 2021 In the spring of 2020 when schools shut down, California State University (CSU) Chico, Center for Healthy Communities responded quickly by offering virtual, live physical activity on teacher online classroom platforms.  

Transition to Virtual Summer Camp Expands Reach of Program

May 17, 2021 The Poe Center for Health Education hosts two week-long Healthy Habits Camp sessions every summer. Kids learn about the importance of nutrition and physical activity through classes, games, gardens, and hands-on cooking experiences. At Healthy Habits Camp, breakfast and lunch are provided through the summer meals program. Additional food tasting occurs with SNAP Ed cooking activities.

Transitioning Cooking Classes for a Virtual Audience

May 17, 2021 Cooking classes not only have continued during the pandemic, but the Poe Center for Health Education’s SNAP-Ed cooking programs increased the number of participants by transitioning to virtual platforms.