HKHF’s key messages focus on increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, increasing physical activity, and decreasing screen time.
Activities within each of HKHFs components were rigorously evaluated for acceptability by the HKHF Evaluation Team. Below is a brief description of each component and links to evidence-based resources used by HKHF.
Component 1: Nutrition and Physical Activity Promotion in Home & Childcare
To support improvements in the food and physical activity environments of preschool children, HKHF worked with four Boston Head Start programs in the Fenway, Lower Roxbury, Mission Hill and Jamaica Plain neighborhoods across three areas with selected activities:
- Program Goal Setting & Implementation
- Nutrition and Physical Activity Self Assessment in Child Care (NAP SACC)
- Cultural/Favorite Recipe Day Working Group
- Farm to Family Pilot and Evaluation
- Staff Training & Professional Development
- Healthy Eating Tour Series: Farmer’s Markets & Supermarkets
- Ways to Enhance Child Activity and Nutrition (We Can!) Training
- Wellness Education for Caregivers of Preschool Children
- Healthy Eating Tour Series: Farmer’s Markets & Supermarkets
- Ways to Enhance Child Activity and Nutrition (We Can!) Training
- National Nutrition Month Activities
- Farm to Family Program
Selected Accomplishments
- Reached over 325 Head Start staff and caregivers through all training, education and capacity building programs combined.
- Collaborated with The Food Project to design and implement an innovative pilot program called Farm to Family. 87 Head Start staff and caregivers participated in the program in 2011, which brought subsidized shares of local produce to Head Start centers on a weekly basis.
- Delivered 44 We Can! workshop sessions, engaging over 100 Head Start caregivers and food service staff members.
- Provided three 6-week Walk Challenges, engaging over 200 Head Start staff and caregivers.
- Installed two raised gardens beds at Head Start programs in collaboration with The Food Project.
- Convened the Cultural Food/Favorite Recipe Day Working Group during Spring 2010 which developed a strategy for menu input and a bi-lingual template for promotion of the cultural meals across four Head Start programs.
Component 2: Community-based Physical Activity Promotion for Young Children & Families
To provide opportunities for family physical activity, HKHF partnered with BCYF to run the Saturday Open Gym (SOG), supporting the capacity of BCYF to provide family-active programming and offering one of the only free,
ongoing programs in Boston for families with young children to be active together. The HKHF SOG program ran throughout the year and was collaboratively conceptualized and designed by the HKHF Institutional Partner team.
The HKHF SOG model supports student service-learning and leadership development along with community engagement.
Three core areas support HKHF’s Saturday Open Gym program:
- HKHF SOG Student Engagement
- HKHF SOG Family Engagement
- HKHF SOG Resources & Community Outreach
Selected Accomplishments
- Developed a family-based physical activity program model for families with young children.
- Promoted active family engagement, with many fathers in attendance.
- Offered over 70 Saturday Open Gym sessions, reaching over 250 families.
- Recruited and trained 95 Northeastern University students to lead Saturday Open Gym, who have contributed over 2,500 service learning and volunteer hours.