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P002: Public Health Division

P002: Percent of children in Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities (HKHC) with increased opportunities for healthy eating in public elementary schools

Current Value

88.6%

2017

Definition

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Story Behind the Curve

  • This measure includes increased healthy eating opportunities on an ongoing and regular basis, such as weekly classroom fruit/vegetable tastings, salad bars, and edible school gardens.
  • Increasing healthy eating and physical activity opportunities in schools exposes children to healthy lifestyle behaviors at an early age. In 2016, 14.9% of kindergarten and 19.4% of third grade students in New Mexico (NM) were obese. American Indian children have the highest obesity rates among all racial/ethnic groups; by third grade, nearly one-in-two (48.7%) American Indian students is overweight or obese, followed by Hispanics (36%). Obese children are more likely to become obese adults with increased risk of chronic health conditions.
  • The Office of Nutrition and Physical Activity (ONAPA) continued to provide specific technical assistance to local coordinators in 17 HKHC counties and tribal communities to better engage partners and build school system support for establishing strong wellness policies and sustainable healthy eating initiatives coupled with nutrition education.
  • Diverse multi-sector coalitions comprised of key community leaders help HKHC achieve meaningful progress in the school setting. Our program also held a quarterly statewide training workshop in January where local coordinators, regional health promotion teams, and other key partners learned leadership techniques to strengthen coalitions and advance healthy eating and physical activity initiatives in schools. 
  • ONAPA will continue to work with HKHC coordinators, schools, and critical statewide partners such as the NM Public Education Department to build support and ensure obesity prevention initiatives in the school setting are sustainable. We will also convene one additional statewide training before the fiscal year ends for coordinators and key partners to network, build leadership and meeting facilitation skills, and effectively advance obesity prevention efforts in their communities.

Partners

  • NM Public Education Department
  • NM Children, Youth, and Families Department
  • NM Human Services Department
  • NM Department of Transportation
  • New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) Women, Infants, and Children Program
  • New Mexico State University
  • University of New Mexico
  • NMDOH health promotion
  • Schools
  • Planning organizations
  • Parks and Recreation
  • Local/Tribal governments
  • Healthy Kids Healthy Communities (Chaves, Cibola, Colfax, Curry, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Guadalupe, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Luna, Roosevelt, San Juan, Socorro counties; pueblos of San Ildefonso, Zuni, Ohkay Owingeh).

What Works

  • Improve nutrition quality of foods and beverages served or available in schools consistent with the Institute of Medicine’s Nutrition Standards for Foods in Schools (including increased access to fruit, vegetables, and plain drinking water).
  • Improve the quality and amount of physical education and activity in schools (including increased physical activity opportunities throughout the school day such as daily recess, mileage clubs, and walk and roll to school programs).

Strategy

  • Establish/expand the 5.2.1.O Challenge in elementary schools.
  • Establish/expand healthy eating opportunities (fruit and vegetable tastings, salad bars, healthy snacks, edible gardens).
  • Establish/expand physical activity opportunities before, during, and after school (schoolyards for open community use, walk and roll to school programs, mileage clubs).

Action Plan

Continue to maintain diverse coalition teams in 14 counties and four tribal communities to advance strategies that support healthy eating, physical activity, and access to a healthy and affordable local food supply.

  • Q1:
    • Award 55 HKHC elementary schools the Federal Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program. Completed - 61 schools
    • Execute five state FY contracts. Incomplete - 3 of 5 contracts executed
  • Q2: 
    • 60 HKHC elementary schools conducting regular fruit/vegetable tastings. 73 schools. Completed
    • 19 executed federal FY contracts with October start dates (no programmatic control over contract approval process but work is predicated on contractors). 13 contracts. Unmet.
  • Q3:
    • 55 HKHC elementary schools implementing the 5.2.1.O Challenge: 43. Incomplete. (some schools will implement the Challenge in April or May before school is out, and some HKHC communities will also implement in during summer school). 
  • Q4:
    • 65 public elementary schools recruited for statewide childhood obesity surveillance
    • 7 nursing programs assisting with statewide childhood obesity surveillance

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