New Jersey Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program Support Network FY 2006

Principal investigator: Dr. Debrah Palmer

NETWORK COLLABORATIONS HAVE RESULTED IN EXCITING AND INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS:

• The Emergency Feeding Assistance Program (TEFAP) has established "teaching pantries" cross the state. NJ FSNEP offices are now licensed for commodity food distribution.The foods are stored in pantries and given to nutrition educators, who then instruct FSNEP program participants in the preparation of recipes using these foods that they commonly find in their local food pantries. Commodity foods are distributed at the end of class so they can easily try the recipes again at home.
• Monmouth County 4-H developed a "5-A-Day Through Theatre and Role Play" curriculum featuring an intergenerational theatre group that performs skits, and conducts interactive workshops using creative arts such as puppetry. The American Cancer Society, a Network partner and 5-A-Day advocate, has embraced this curriculum, conducting teacher training sessions across the state that emphasize cancer prevention through proper nutrition.
• In Union County, the Elizabeth Schools and Early Childhood Centers, PROCEED, Hillside Schools, Plainfield Schools and Early Childhood Centers learn nutrition through the Smart Foods Rock program that stresses the importance of eating a healthy diet that follows the MyPyramid Guidelines and consists of eleven behaviorally focused lessons teaching children the basics of nutrition and food safety from hand-washing "Clean Hands" to learning about a healthy breakfast and healthy snacks. Lessons are forty-five minutes and include tastings, demonstrations, creative work sheets and discussion that emphasize reading, writing, math, science, geography and literacy. The curriculum meets N J Core Curriculum requirements, the requirements of the "High Scope" educational method adopted by school districts in Union County and the NJ 4-H curriculum development requirements.
• The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's "Newark Lead Social Marketing Consortium" sponsored an inner city campaign to reduce the risk of lead poisoning amongst young children through a dietary intervention of increasing calcium intake. A brochure entitled "Calcium In Lead Out" was developed and focus group tested by the FSNEP Support NetworkThis resulted in the development of more culturally appropriate campaign messages.The FSNEP Support Network will be responsible for expanding the calcium message into a statewide social marketing campaign.
• Pathmark, ShopRite and Kings supermarkets lead numerous events including "5-A-Day" week, which provides cooking classes, in store education and supermarket tours for both seniors and adults. ShopRite nutrition education sessions for parents of preschoolers stress the importance of feeding children healthy food on a limited budget. Pathmark serves as a sponsor for Leadie Eddie days, providing children with blood testing for lead poisoning and parents with nutritional counseling.
• New Jersey Head Start Daycare Centers and WIC Clinics serve as host sites for focus group studies that are conducted with parents of young children to determine the barriers to increased calcium consumption. This research will guide the development of a statewide social marketing campaign that will focus on the benefits of calcium to reduce the risk of diseases such as lead poisoning, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, and childhood obesity.
• "Jump StartYour Bones" is a middle school curriculum designed to prevent osteoporosis. This award winning curriculum is used statewide to train teachers in health education, family and consumer science, life science, and physical education.

Contact

Dr. Debrah Palmer
Director NJ FSNEP
Rutgers University Department of Nutritional Sciences
26 Nichol Ave. Davison Hall
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-2882
Phone: (732) 932-9853
Fax: (732) 932-6522
Email: dpalmer@njaes.rutgers.edu