Promoting Nutrition and Food Access: Building Programs to Fit Communities

Being healthy and eating nutritious foods involves more than individual choices. It's not enough to know how to be healthy – people also need practical, readily available healthy options around them. Purdue Extension's Nutrition Education Program has taught resource-limited Hoosiers about nutrition, food safety, food security, physical activity, and food resource management for over 25 years. Recently, it has incorporated approaches beyond direct education to offer tools and solutions to improve its community's health. Its mission is to facilitate communities in generating policy, system, and environmental changes (PSE) to help make the healthy choice the easy choice.

In this session, the Program's Community Wellness Coordinators will provide resources for RDNs by sharing initiatives that resulted in flexible solutions to food access limitations in their communities. These initiatives include providing Double Up Food Bucks and healthy produce in a food desert, initiating a Produce Rx Program, coordinating community gardens in youth facilities and correctional facilities to donate produce to local food pantries, and initiating a food bulk buying club by partnering with a local hospital to procure healthy food options at cost and enable participants to purchase foods with SNAP dollars.

CPE Level: Level 1
CPEU: 1.0

Performance Indicators

• 2.1.1 Assesses the communication needs of the individual, customer or population.
• 3.1.3 Takes initiative to facilitate change.
• 9.4.2 Selects and uses appropriate content and teaching methods to meet individual and group needs

Learning Objectives

• Identify how Policy, System, and Environmental Change (PSE) differs from direct education
• Demonstrate knowledge of how RDNs are integral in public health
• Provide examples of how RDNs can make changes to improve health and make the healthy choice the easy choice in their communities

Speakers

• Erin Meyer
• Jeff Walker
• Lacy Wilson
• Kristen Fitzgerald