Publication/Revision Year of most recent version: 2021

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 

Create Healthy Choices: Thumbs Up for Healthy Choices – Food Pantries (Thumbs Up)

Create Healthy Choices: Thumbs Up for Healthy Choices – Food Pantries (Thumbs Up) is a policy, systems, and environment (PSE) change intervention designed to improve the visibility and appeal of healthy choices for pantry users, leading to an increased selection of these healthy choices. Thumbs Up utilizes low-cost nudge strategies to make healthy choices easier in pantries. Prior to implementing Thumbs Up, educators evaluate the pantry’s readiness for change by conducting a baseline assessment using an adapted version of Illinois Extension’s Nutrition Environment Food Pantry Assessment Tool (NEFPAT). Once the baseline is established, educators work with pantries to identify areas the pantry management is interested in improving. Educators then use nutrition criteria outlined in the toolkit to identify foods that are low in sodium, added sugar, and saturated fat. At the end of a pantry’s partnership with SNAP-Ed, or the end of the fiscal year, the NEFPAT is used again to track changes made to improve the visibility and appeal of healthy items.

Target Behavior: Healthy Eating

Intervention Type: PSE Change

Alliance for a Healthier Generation (Healthier Generation)

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation (Healthier Generation) supports school and district leaders in creating and sustaining healthy schools where students – especially those from underserved communities – can thrive. 

Healthier Generation is a PSE intervention designed to create healthier school environments for students and staff. It is among the nation’s largest school-based programs improving whole child health, addressing multiple factors that lead to inadequate health and life outcomes – from physical activity (PA) and nutrition to social and emotional health and tobacco/vaping prevention. Healthier Generation leads school and district staff through the following 6– step continuous improvement process: 1) convene a School or District Wellness Committee, 2) assess the school health environment using the Thriving Schools Integrated Assessment (TSIA), 3) develop an action plan tailored to school or district priorities based on what is important and achievable, 4) explore Healthier Generation resources and tools, 5) take action to implement the plan and achieve school or district goals 6) celebrate success and monitor progress. Healthier Generation facilitates the development of partnerships during step one and provides support to schools to implement evidence-based policies and practices related to nutrition and PA. Schools document their need and readiness for change in step two by completing the TSIA. The sixth step addresses program recognition by celebrating schools’ success through Healthier Generation’s national recognition program.  

Target Behavior: Healthy Eating, Physical Activity

Intervention Type: PSE Change

Create Better Health Curriculum

The Create Better Health (CBH) Curriculum is a direct education intervention designed to improve the nutrition and physical activity-related knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy of SNAP-Ed eligible adults to lead an active and healthy lifestyle with limited resources. CBH has a unique emphasis on improving food resource management through the use of “Create” concepts. “Create” concepts teach participants how to use foods they already have in their kitchen to create a variety of nourishing meals. CBH includes 8 lessons that are to be offered in a series of 6-8 classes. Nutrition educators are trained regularly to teach CBH classes all of which include a nutrition topic, physical activity discussion, and a hands-on (ideally) cooking demonstration that utilizes a “Create” concept. CBH addresses and evaluates individual level changes including short term readiness and capacity and medium–term changes over the course of a series, as well as long-term changes 6 months after participation in the areas of healthy eating, physical activity, and food resource management. CBH also includes a 1-year follow-up survey to evaluate long-term behavior changes. 

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

Intervention Type: Direct Education

Common Threads: Small Bites Program

The Small Bites Program is a direct education intervention designed to increase nutrition knowledge, vegetable consumption, and variety of vegetables consumed. The curriculum teaches students about nutrition and healthy cooking through a series of eight (or more) 1-hour lessons combining nutrition and knife-free cooking. In every lesson, students prepare a healthy snack, using recipes that meet USDA Guidelines, and provide opportunities to learn about and reinforce nutrition concepts and cooking skills. The lessons are grade-level banded, suitable for the in-school or after-school setting and are designed to support core content learning in math, English Language Arts, and science.

Target Behavior: Healthy Eating

Intervention Type: Direct Education

Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH)

The Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) is a PSE change and direct education intervention aiming to prevent childhood obesity in school-age children. The two main behavioral targets are helping children identify and choose healthy foods and increasing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). CATCH’s training and curriculum materials provide the information and resources teachers need to implement strategies to improve child health.

Target Behavior: Healthy Eating, Physical Activity

Intervention Type: Direct Education, PSE Change

Go NAPSACC

NAPSACC/Go NAPSACC is a direct education and PSE change intervention designed to enhance nutrition and physical activity practices in early care and education programs by improving the:

  • supports for breastfeeding, healthy meals, farm to ECE, and oral health;
  • amount and quality of indoor and outdoor physical activity;
  • provider–child interactions around food and physical activity;
  • educational opportunities for children, parents, and providers; and
  • program policies related to breastfeeding, nutrition, oral health, indoor and outdoor physical activity, and screen time.

Target Behavior: Breastfeeding, Healthy Eating, Physical Activity

Intervention Type: Direct Education, PSE Change

Pick a better snack™

Pick a better snackTM is a direct education and social marketing intervention that aims to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and promote daily physical activity among children. The program is designed to influence children’s preference for fruits and vegetables and the snacks they request at home. Nutrition educators deliver monthly lessons and fruit and vegetable tasings during the school day to kindergarten through third grade classes. Family newsletters and health-themed bingo cards are sent home to engage parents. Two complimentary community-based social marketing campaigns, Pick a better snack and Play Your Way, further support healthy eating and physical activity behavior change.

Target Behavior: Healthy Eating, Physical Activity

Intervention Type: Direct Education, Social Marketing