New U of M grants foster healthy eating in underserved communities

9 August 2011 - UMN

Science Wire | News from the Lab

Medicine/Pharmacology - Agronomy/Food Science

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (08/09/2011) —A new series of grants from the University of Minnesota’s Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute is aimed at helping people who live in disadvantaged communities eat healthier, safer diets.

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The grants, which are for about $50,000 each, include:

Developing on-farm safe food handling practices for immigrant farmers in the Twin Cities who grow and sell fresh produce and traditional crops at local farmers markets. The project also includes training for farmers. The project is led by leaders from the Farmers Legal Action Group as well as the Association for the Advancement of Hmong Women in Minnesota, and U of M agricultural health and safety program leaders.

Assessing and creating a plan for a Native American-owned grocery store and deli in Lake Andes, South Dakota, on the Yankton reservation. Researchers will study the economic viability of a business focused on healthy food as well as determine how local agencies and community members can work together to promote healthy nutrition. Brave Heart Society, based on the reservation, and scientists from the U of M’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and Medical School are the project leaders.

Creating an integrated Anishaabe curriculum at the intersections of culture, history, economics and health with native food practices, including gardening, farming and forestry. The project is led by leaders at the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota and the University of Minnnesota, Morris. New Curriculum models will be tested at the Morris campus in summer 2012.

Addressing the obesity epidemic in communities of color by creating a sustainable intervention model that can be used by the North Minneapolis Kwanzaa Church community. Forty families will be involved in a six-month campaign to increase healthy eating and exercise through the existing church community network. The project leaders include North Point Health and Wellness Center physicans and the U of M’s School of Public Health.

A series of activities for fathers to help them be more involved in growing, preparing and shopping for healthy food with their children -- through visiting farmers markets and community gardens, planning menus and using safe food preparation techniques. The project involves Southside Community Health Services in Minneapolis as well as specialists from University of Minnesota Extension.

“These projects all share a goal: healthy and safe food for everyone,” said Mindy Kurzer, director of the U’s Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute. “The grants will help each project get off the ground and nurture the creative, innovative ideas the investigators brought to the table.”

The Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute fosters interdisciplinary research and outreach from areas as wide-ranging as medicine, public health and agriculture, through a collaboration of five colleges within the university. These grants include scientists from a broad range of disciplines at the university, including food science, applied economics, history, infectious diseases, veterinary medicine and public health.

The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer

Last modified on August 9, 2011

New U of M grants foster healthy eating in underserved communities

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