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KA 703. Nutrition Education and Behavior (Santa Fe County)

Plan Goal

The goal for the Nutrition Education and Behavior programs in Santa Fe County is to provide science based nutrition information and hands-on cooking, food budgeting, and food safety classes to low-income adults and youth.

Situation Statement

The primary nutrition problem facing the U.S. today is overconsumption and obesity, even among some low-income populations. Although obesity in New Mexico is slightly below the national average (60%), 57% of adults are overweight or obese and 22% of low-income children between the ages of 2 to 5 years of age whose families participate in the Women Infant and Children (WIC) program are overweight or at risk for overweight.

The increase in obesity and disparities in obesity across racial and income groups have led researchers to focus on the social and environmental factors that influence a healthy diet. There is some evidence to suggest a link between food stamp receipt and elevated Body Mass Index (BMI) in younger women. However, more research is needed to better understand why participation in the Federally-funded food programs may affect women, but not men or children. Factors that may influence these differences include variance in energy requirements, physical activity levels, and allocation of household resources. Psychosocial or biological differences explain some of the disparities in obesity, but do not include the critical aspect of the built environment in particular the retail food environment and the selection of food that is available. Individuals need access to healthy food to make healthy choices.

Positive changes in dietary behavior also require the acquisition of many new skills, and the SNAP Ed (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education) or ICAN ( Ideas for Cooking and Nutrition) program at New Mexico State addresses skill acquisition better than many states by providing hands-on nutrition, cooking, food budgeting, and food safety classes for low-income youth and adults.

Target Audience and Actions

The target audience for the nutrition education and behavior goal is low-income adults and youth in Santa Fe County who attend schools that meet the government requirement of 50% or more participation in free and reduced school lunch programs. This goal will be achieved with nutrition education classes taught by the Santa Fe County ICAN program in eligible schools and agencies like WIC and food banks. Information will also be disseminated in a booth at the Santa Fe County Fair and presentations given to local community groups.

Short-Term Objectives

• Learn how SNAP Ed works in New Mexico.
• Teach several Youth ICAN classes.
• Supervise and manage the ICAN Staff in the Santa Fe Cooperative Extension Staff.
• Work on building the relationship with the Income Support Division (ISD) in Santa Fe County.
• Provide tastings of healthy snacks and set-up an information booth at the Santa Fe County Fair.
• Do nutrition education presentations for parent groups and community groups upon request.

Medium-Term Objectives

• Continue ICAN Staff team building efforts and look for free skill building training opportunities for ICAN staff beyond the annual meeting held by the State ICAN Program.
• Develop a series of ICAN lessons for onetime workshops and evaluation cards for each lesson to be taught at ISD.

Long-Term Objectives

• Work on a joint Ag/ICAN project with a low-income housing group to start a community garden and combine with Adult ICAN cooking classes. The ultimate goal would be to develop curriculum. Many other states are working on similar projects with gardening and nutrition.

• Develop a format for one page project Impacts that can be shared with the community…they call them UC Delivers in California and these are often used as program advocating tools.

Evaluation Plan

The ICAN Program in Santa Fe County has built-in evaluation tools; however I would like to do the following:
• Develop a series of evaluation cards for onetime ICAN workshops (series of six lessons) that can be taught at ISD or other venues like health fairs.
• Train the ICAN Educators in Santa Fe County to do some pre/post 24 hour dietary recalls to get a better idea about what foods our clients are choosing and how the ICAN program influences those choices.
• Develop a survey for the Adult ICAN classes that can be used at the first class to determine what our client’s needs are in the area of nutrition, food budgeting, and menu planning