Crossroads Healthy Eating Initiative
According to the Center for Disease Control, the prevalence of obesity among children aged 6 to 11 more than doubled in the past 20 years, going from 6.5% in 1980 to 17.0% in 2006. Children from low-income families are at greater risk of obesity, as are African American and Latino children.
There is a desperate need for not only greater access to fresh, healthy food options, as we provide through our Fresh Checks program, but also for all of our children to learn more about healthy food choices, healthy lifestyles,and the impact of our food choices on the environment.
In response to this demonstrated need, we developed the Crossroads Healthy Eating Initiative, in partnership with nearby Rolling Terrace Elementary School and its Padres Lationos de Accion parent group. Located a mile from the Crossroads Farmers Market, Rolling Terrace is a Title I school wherein 60% of students are enrolled in FARMS (free-and-reduced meals, a general measure of poverty in the school population), 48% of all students are Latino, and 24% are African-American.
Through the Crossroads Healthy Eating Initiative, Crossroads Farmers Market staff, Rolling Terrace volunteers and teachers, and other community experts on health, nutrition, and sustainable agriculture will present a fun, multilingual after-school curriculum for older elementary school students highlighting the farm-to-fork process and encouraging healthful eating.
Activities include:
- Day-long, hands-on healthy eating and cooking workshop
- Visits to one local urban farm and one local rural farm
- Walking field trip for students and parents from the school to the market
- Central American cooking workshop with produce from market and/or the Rolling Terrace school garden
- Promotion of ongoing family-friendly activities at market
