Connecting Kids and Healthy Food
How much do you love healthy, local food?
How hard do you have to work to find it and get it to your table?
How important is it to you to have your kids eat healthy food that’s grown close to where you live?
There’s all kinds of research about how important it is to eat food that doesn’t travel across the country to get to us. It’s a challenge, especially in the winter, but it’s getting easier and Next Step is doing what we can to move this movement forward. Not only is local food healthier and tastier, but it’s also a LOT better for the environment to cut down on the transportation costs.
The Next Step team is working with Early Care and Education (ECE) providers to connect local produce, farmers, and gardeners with their centers. We developed and are leading a three-module, virtual, Train the Trainer series to provide strategies for connecting young children with local, healthy food.
The participants leave with an abundance of resources and plans to bring farm and gardening curriculum into their schools, maps and sketches for on-site gardens, and action plans for procuring nutrient-dense, locally-sourced food.
Our team is excited to engage with trainers around the state to encourage their next steps voting with their budgets and actions for healthier families, farmers, and communities.