Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior

Extension Opportunities in Food Access & Equity, Part Two

(Recorded 3/7/18)

Speakers: Dan Remley, MSPH, PhD, The Ohio State University Extension; Amber Canto, MPH, RDN, University of Wisconsin-Extension & Alexandra Bush-Kaufman, MPH, RDN, CD, Washington State University-Extension

Food access and equity are increasingly relevant when nutrition professionals consider improving the quality of people’s diets. Many nutrition educators in Extension work within two of the USDA low-income nutrition education and obesity prevention programs, SNAP-Ed and EFNEP. The role of the built environment in the diets of Americans is more understood, and it is widely accepted that the places where people live, learn, work, play, and shop affect their food and physical activity behaviors. It is essential that participants of SNAP-Ed and EFNEP have access to nutritious foods so that direct education efforts by Extension educators are successful in improving health behaviors. The food pantry is a common setting for direct education interventions and is growing as a place for policy, systems, and environmental change. Environmental interventions within the food pantry setting improve healthy food access and equity to low-income clients that are served by SNAP-Ed and EFNEP through Extension programming. As such, the role of Extension educators has widened in the types of technical assistance and support Extension educators now provide to food pantry agencies and their clients.

Learning Objectives

1. Gain knowledge and describe the differing roles Extension educators may play in partnerships with food pantries
2. Compare the cost effectiveness of different food pantry based interventions related to educator time
3. Describe typical needs within a food pantry agency and identify methods of successful communication for healthy food equity messages
4. Compare Extension based food pantry, environmental interventions and their related evaluation models

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Dan Remley, MSPH, PhD, The Ohio State University Extension
Dr. Remley holds a BA in Zoology from Miami University, Masters of Science in Public Health from UAB and PhD in Nutritional Sciences from University of Kentucky. Dr. Remley worked as a Nutrition Specialist for the University of Missouri Extension for 3 years and as a Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Educator for Ohio State University Extension in Butler County for 10 years. Since 2012, Dr. Remley has served as an Assistant Professor and Field Specialist for The Ohio State University Extension and is headquartered at OSU South Centers in Piketon, Ohio.

Amber Canto, MPH, RDN, University of Wisconsin-Extension
Amber Canto, MPH, RDN received her dietetics degree from the University of WI-Madison, and completed her master's degree in public health nutrition with a global health emphasis with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health. Amber has worked as a nutrition consultant with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in the Dominican Republic where she coordinated infant and young child feeding interventions on the Haitian-Dominican border. She previously held the position as Poverty and Food Security Specialist with University of Wisconsin-Extension where she addressed food systems and food security, poverty awareness and education, and nutrition education with low-income audiences. She currently serves as the State Coordinator of FoodWIse at the University of WI-Extension. 

Alexandra Bush-Kaufman, MPH, RDN, CD, Washington State University-Extension
Alexandra earned her BS in Dietetics and Human Nutrition from Southeast Missouri State University and her Masters in Public Health Nutrition from University of Washington-Seattle. She is a Registered Dietitian and Certified in the State of Washington. Alexandra began working for Washington State University Extension in 2014 while completing her Masters. She has served as a program and research coordinator for an AFRI-grant, the Washington State SNAP-Ed and EFNEP programs, and as a research coordinator for RNECE-W.

Webinar sponsored by the FNEE Division.

Clearing up the Confusion_ Using the Ingredients List as a Tool for Nutrition Education

Journal Club 5: Previous Gardening Experience & Gardening Enjoyment is Related to Vegetable Preferences and Consumption Among Low-Income Children

(Recorded 3/5/2018)

Speaker: Alexandra van den Berg, PhD, MPH, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Texas!Grow!Eat!Go! (TGEG) was a 5-year garden-based intervention study implemented in 28 Title 1 elementary schools in Texas. As part of the baseline data collection, we collected information on gardening experience, gardening enjoyment, exposure to vegetables, vegetable preference and vegetable consumption from 1326 ethnically-diverse children. In this presentation we will discuss relationships between these variables as tested by random-effects regression models. We will also describe implications of this study on school-garden based interventions.

Journal Club 4: Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta! Your Health Matters! A Community-Wide Campaign in a Hispanic Border Community in Texas

(Recorded 2/26/2018)

Speakers: Natalia Heredia, MPH, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston & Belinda Reininger, PhD, The University of Texas Health Science Center

In this presentation, we will describe the community-wide campaign that was delivered in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas, Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta! (Your Health Matters!). This campaign included multiple components, such as a newsletter, TV and radio segments, and a community health worker, all intended to improve diet and increase physical activity. We will describe the measures and methods used to evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign on healthy and unhealthy foods, hip and waist circumference, and physical activity and conclude by detailing the results of the campaign.

Learning Objectives

1. Describe the development, content, and implementation of Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta! (Your Health Matters!) community-wide campaign
2. Explain the methods and measures for evaluating the campaign
3. Detail the anthropometric, nutrition and physical activity results from the evaluation of the campaign

 

Hot Topics Call: The Expiring Farm Bill and the Nutrition Title

(Recorded 2/21/18)

Sponsored by the SNEB Children's Division 

Speaker: Angie Rodgers, President & CEO of the Association of Arizona Food Banks (AAFB)

Join SNEB’s Children’s Division for a hot topic call. September 2018 marks the close of another Farm Bill (Formally known as the Agricultural Act of 2014). In preparation we have invited Angie Rodgers, Executive Director of the Association of Arizona Food Banks (AAFB) to discuss the projected changes surrounding the nutrition title of the soon-to-be expiring Farm Bill.  

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Angie Rodgers, President & CEO of the Association of Arizona Food Banks (AAFB)
AAFB is a nonprofit membership organization, representing five large food banks that distribute food statewide to more than 1,000 sites.  As the President & CEO, Rodgers is responsible for childhood hunger programs, providing transportation resources to its members and the overall strategic direction and management of the anti-hunger organization.

Rodgers brings more than 20 years experience in public policy research and advocacy focusing on human services. Prior to joining AAFB, Rodgers served in various capacities for the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES), improving child and family welfare services through advocacy and policy initiatives, community-based partnerships, interagency coordination, allocation of federal resources and grant application and administration.

Rodgers was Governor Napolitano’s Human Services Policy Advisor serving as the liaison between the Governor and DES and the Department of Juvenile Corrections. In this role, she was instrumental in development of high-level child and family welfare services policy and budget negotiation for nearly $750 million in state resources. She directed the state task force on the Earned Income Tax Credit, which lifted thousands of Arizonans out of poverty. 

She earned her Master’s Degree in Social Work at Arizona State University and Bachelor’s Degrees in Criminology and Sociology from the University of Kansas.

Journal Club 3: Together We Inspire Smart Eating: A Preschool Curriculum for Obesity Prevention in Low-Income Families

(Recorded 2/19/18)

Speakers: Leanne Whiteside-Mansell, EdD, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences & Taren M. Swindle, PhD, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

This talk will examine the development, theoretical foundation, evidence of feasibility and acceptability, and effectiveness of Together, We Inspire Smart Eating” (WISE). WISE is a research-based curriculum developed to target preschool and elementary school children attending schools serving children from low-income backgrounds. WISE includes three key components: (a) the classroom curriculum including the mascot, Windy Wise, a barn owl, (b) educator training, and (c) material/technology to educate parents.

The classroom curriculum encourages increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, fosters healthy attitudes and behaviors towards trying new healthy foods, and strengthens children's agricultural literacy. Process evaluation results will include an overview of implementation success and barriers. Outcome evaluation will include changes in educator knowledge and behavior, parent report of dietary intake compared with children not receiving WISE, and Skin Carotenoid pre/post assessment of consumption.

Learning Objectives

1. The participants will review the theoretical foundation for an obesity prevention program that targets vulnerable populations as defined by lack of financial resources.
2. The participants will link this foundation to the key components of the WISE curriculum.
3. The participants will discuss the implementation barriers WISE presented and the team’s efforts to address.
4. The participants will examine the outcomes of the multiple methods outcomes assessment and recommendations for future community-based interventions.

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Leanne Whiteside-Mansell, EdD, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Leanne Whiteside-Mansell, Ed. D. is a Professor and Director of the Research and Evaluation Division (RED) in the Department of Family & Preventive Medicine (DFPM) at UAMS. Dr. Whiteside-Mansell served as Co-PD and jointly developed (with Dr. Swindle) “Together, We Inspire Smart Eating” and referenced by the acronym WISE with NIFA-funding project (#2011-68001-30014). She currently is the faculty led at UAMS for USDA Team Nutrition funding (Team Nutrition - We Inspire Smart Eating AR (TN-WISE); #FNS-CNTN-16-AR). Dr. Whiteside-Mansell coordinated the development and evaluation of the WISE program for both preK and K-1 settings. Whiteside-Mansell has more than 90 publications related to obesity prevention, parenting and child development in at-risk populations and has conducted research targeting children and families living in poverty since 1993.

Taren M. Swindle, PhD, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Taren M. Swindle, PhD is an Assistant Professor in Family and Preventive Medicine within the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Broadly, her research program focuses on understanding and improving health and developmental outcomes for children impacted by poverty. Dr. Swindle has a particular focus on obesity prevention and nutrition promotion for young children in low-income families. Her work to date has focused on the early childcare setting as a key context for obesity prevention and nutrition intervention. She is interested in increasing adoption of evidence-based practices and interventions in community settings such as this through application of Implementation Science. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and Research from the University of Memphis and currently holds a career development award from NIDDK.

DSFS Author Mike Hamm

SNEB Journal Club 3: Together We Inspire Smart Eating: A preschool Curriculum for Obesity Prevention in Low-Income Families

SNEB Journal Club: Stretching Food and Being Creative: Caregiver Response for Child Food

Extension Opportunities in Food Access & Equity, Part 1

(Recorded) 2/13/18)

Speakers: Dan Remley, MSPH, PhD, The Ohio State University Extension; Amber Canto, MPH, RDN, University of Wisconsin-Extension; Alexandra Bush-Kaufman, MPH, RDN, CD, Washington State University-Extension & Bethany Hendrickson, Leah's Pantry

Food access and equity are increasingly relevant when nutrition professionals consider improving the quality of people’s diets. Many nutrition educators in Extension work within two of the USDA low-income nutrition education and obesity prevention programs, SNAP-Ed and EFNEP. The role of the built environment in the diets of Americans is more understood, and it is widely accepted that the places where people live, learn, work, play, and shop affect their food and physical activity behaviors. It is essential that participants of SNAP-Ed and EFNEP have access to nutritious foods so that direct education efforts by Extension educators are successful in improving health behaviors. The food pantry is a common setting for direct education interventions and is growing as a place for policy, systems, and environmental change. Environmental interventions within the food pantry setting improve healthy food access and equity to low-income clients that are served by SNAP-Ed and EFNEP through Extension programming. As such, the role of Extension educators has widened in the types of technical assistance and support Extension educators now provide to food pantry agencies and their clients.