Available language: Chinese

Chronic Disease Self-Management Program

The Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) is a direct education intervention that helps individuals and caregivers of those with chronic health conditions build a “toolbox” of strategies they can utilize to help achieve their health goals. Workshops are for adults and are highly participatory and build mutual support. Workshop topics include techniques to deal with symptoms of chronic conditions, such as fatigue, pain, sleeplessness, shortness of breath, stress, and emotional problems, such as depression, anger, fear, and frustration. Participants will learn appropriate exercise for maintaining and improving strength and endurance, falls prevention, healthy eating, better breathing techniques, appropriate use of medication, working more effectively with health care providers, communication skills, action planning, problem solving, and decision making. Through actively achieving small goals, participants obtain success which builds confidence in their ability to manage their health and maintain active, fulfilling lives. 

Please Note: Medical nutrition therapy is not allowable for SNAP-Ed. We strongly recommend you partner with a healthcare professional to provide those components of this intervention. Components focused on healthy eating and physical activity are appropriate for SNAP-Ed. 

Target Behavior: Healthy Eating, Physical Activity and Reduced Screen Time 

Intervention Type: Direct Education 

The State Nutrition Action Council: Farmers Market Initiative

The State Nutrition Action Council: Farmers Market Initiative (SNAC) is policy, systems, and environmental change intervention designed to:

  • Increase knowledge of Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) programs available at farmers markets.
  • Increase knowledge of locally grown fruits and vegetables and how to use, cook, and store them.
  • Increase the use of Market Match and CalFresh redemption vouchers to support low-income shoppers in maximizing their purchasing power.
  • Increase state and local partnerships of FNS funded programs to support a welcoming market environment that accepts multiple FNS food benefits. 

In 2018, SNAC focused on increasing low-income shoppers’ utilization of their food and nutrition program benefits at local Farmers Markets, and in 2019, SNAC expanded its Farmers Market Initiative (FMI) into additional counties and markets, as well as added an on-site navigator component. The navigator model was tested at three markets, and the CalFresh Healthy Living (CFHL) Navigators were found to address barriers to shopping at farmers markets, including lack of knowledge and comfort using food assistance benefits. CFHL Navigators provided support to shoppers by distributing materials, promoting accepted FNS benefits, providing information on how to use FNS benefits, explaining Market Match, and providing interactive nutrition and health education activities on-site at the market for six consecutive weeks. The FMI has continued to expand into new counties in California since 2019 and increases in food benefit redemptions at FMI markets has sustained. 

Target Behavior: Healthy Eating, Food Insecurity/Food Assistance

Intervention Type: PSE Change

Food Smarts

Food Smarts is a direct education intervention that is designed to support healthy behavior change in the areas of healthy eating, food safety, cooking, food waste reduction and food resource management. In 2022, Leah’s Pantry released an updated version of Food Smarts that incorporates principles of trauma-informed nutrition.  Food Smarts is a flexible, learner-centered, multi-session nutrition and cooking program with several available lesson plans to fit the needs of a variety of settings. A kitchen is not required for the implementation of the intervention, but participants can be engaged in simple recipe preparation as an instructional strategy. The adult curriculum of Food Smarts is available in English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean. The youth curriculum is available in English.  

Target Behavior: Healthy Eating  
Intervention Type: Direct Education 

The OrganWise Guys Program (OWG)

The OrganWise Guys Program (OWG) can be delivered via both direct and indirect education including PSE change interventions designed to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and increase physical activity among participants as well as facilitate PSE changes in the settings in which it is conducted. SNAP-Ed staff or trained classroom teachers provide direct education through various curriculum to youth in childcare and school settings and provide support materials for families. The WISERCISE! program provides 10-minutes of desk-side daily physical activity in the classroom. Foods of the Month helps create a healthy cafeteria environment in schools and during family style eating/snacking in EC Centers via daily nutrition messaging and outreach to parents. The OWG gardening curriculum helps establish gardens while children learn to grow and consume homegrown food. This curriculum focuses on PSE changes by working with school wellness councils to develop policies that address foods served at school events, establish school gardens, and improve and promote school meals/snacks. Partnerships and parent/adult engagement in positive health behaviors can lead to PSE change that is sustainable and beneficial community wide. Indirect education includes a wide variety of behavior tracking tools for use at home to reinforce key messages. All the above items can be delivered in the traditional way using physical items or via the online platform across all target audiences. 

Additionally, The OWG online component allows for projects to collect usage data from all users on the platform. Data collection reports will be available to SNAP-Ed partners which tracks/reports on total time of each session with details on books read, activity sheets/newsletters downloaded, videos watched and physical activity (via new WISERCISE! level).  This usage report can assist with your PEARS reporting.  

 

Target Behavior: Healthy Eating, Fruit and Vegetable Consumption, Physical Activity and Reducing Screen Time, Food Insecurity/Food Assistance 

Intervention Type: Direct Education, PSE Change 

Teen Battle Chef (TBC)

Teen Battle Chef (TBC) is a direct education and PSE change intervention designed to develop skills in nutrition, cooking, and leadership for participants and their families through cooking lessons, a PSE campaign, ongoing nutrition education, development of youth leaders, and supporting a culture of wellness in partner organizations. TBC includes eight sessions in which participants learn plant-focused recipes and cooking skills to compete in cooking battles. After eight weeks of skill development, the Teen Chefs choose one of four tracts to impact PSE change. The four tracts are bundled with the curriculum license and include School Food Ambassadors (for collaborating with schools’ food service), Special Event Headliners (for ensuring healthy options at School Events), CHEFS 4 Change (program for youth collaboration with local bodegas to support healthy ‘grab n’ go’ options), and Culinary Coaches (teaching other students healthy meal/snack strategies). The Teen Battle Chef LIVE online version allows for online instruction using an online delivery platform, such as Zoom or Google Meet.

TBC School Food Ambassadors have been effectively utilized as partners with school food service to co-develop new school menu items and promote them with demos and sampling. This active collaborative creates peer-driven motivation for more students to participate in school lunch and breakfast, which is easily measured through school food service participation rates.

Target Behavior: Healthy Eating, Physical Activity and Reducing Screen Time, Food Insecurity/Food Assistance

Intervention Type: Direct Education, PSE Change

Healthy Apple Program

The Healthy Apple Program is a PSE Change tool designed to improve the nutrition, physical activity practices, and environment of child care facilities. The program recognizes achievements by issuing awards to child care providers who make improvements and reach their goals.

Target Behavior: Breastfeeding, Healthy Eating, Physical Activity

Intervention Type: PSE Change

EatFresh

EatFresh.org is mobile-friendly website that was created for the SNAP-Ed population and the organizations that serve them. It provides practical resources and encouragement for individuals with varying levels of digital literacy, internet access, health awareness and culinary skills. EatFresh.org is a stand-alone indirect education resource, an extender for direct education interventions, and a useful tool for a variety of PSE strategies. Partners throughout California use EatFresh.org as a tool to direct their participants to healthy recipes during nutrition workshops, to look up preparation and storage tips for food received at food banks, and to apply for SNAP/Calfresh.  They promote the website by distributing recipe cards at health fairs and other indirect events and refer clients to the EatFresh.org Mini Course as a flexible direct education resource. The EatFresh.org Mini Course is a free online direct education course that features 15 SNAP-Ed self-paced topics that can be completed in any order. 

Target Behavior: Healthy Eating

Intervention Type: Direct Education, PSE Change

Eat Well Play Hard in Child Care Settings (EWPHCCS)

Eat Well Play Hard in Child Care Settings (EWPHCCS) is a direct education and PSE change intervention that focuses on improving the nutrition and physical activity behaviors of pre-school age children and their parents/caregivers by using educational strategies and skill building activities to promote healthy behavior change. The intervention also builds social support within the child care environment by including teachers and care providers in lessons and encouraging positive role-modeling and classroom reinforcement of nutrition and physical activity messages.

Target Behavior: Healthy Eating, Physical Activity

Intervention Type: Direct Education, PSE Change

Rethink Your Drink

The Rethink Your Drink Campaign is an evidence-based educational campaign designed to inform users about the relationship between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and increases in rates of overweight and obesity. The program provides nutrition education and recommendations for improving overall health, but specifically emphasizes reducing intake of soda, energy drinks, and sports drinks.  Social marketing as well as direct education materials including curricula and lesson plans, posters, handouts, fact sheets, and recipe cards can be implemented in school and community-based settings. The program aims to educate low-income children and adults about healthy drink options, specifically promoting the consumption of water.

Target Behavior: Healthy Eating

Intervention Type: Direct Education, Social Marketing

PE-Nut™

PE-Nut™ is a direct education and PSE change intervention that uses a whole-school approach to motivate students, parents, and educators to be physically active and eat healthier. Physical educators, classroom teachers and school administrators work together to improve nutrition and physical activity in K–5 school settings. The program consists of several components: quality physical education for students, nutrition education in the classrooms, take-home “healthy book bags”; daily school announcements; school and family newsletters; and parent engagement events. The overall goal of PE-Nut™ is to improve the school nutrition environment and affect healthy behavior change, including:

Individual Behavior Changes:

  • Increase participation in a physically active lifestyle.
  • Increase consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fat-free or low-fat milk or dairy products.
  • Balance caloric intake from food and beverages with calories expended (upper grades).
  • Try new food.
  • Choose healthy snacks.
  • Wash hands before eating.

Classroom and School Environment:

  • Healthy Classroom Parties
  • Non-food rewards
  • School staff and Student role modeling
  • Healthy classroom and school wide messaging

Target Behavior: Healthy Eating, Physical Activity

Intervention Type: Direct Education, PSE Change