Hello all,

Mashpee Village Summer Nutrition Program is underway! The needs assessment was completed. The Photovoice project was new to the participants but they were so proud when completed it. Eight participants were asked to take pictures related to food in their life- pictures that will showcase their pride about their community or culture and also those that will depict the need around food. They were asked to prioritize the pictures themselves and invited to do a power point presentation. Here’s a picture of one of the presenations by a 11 year old girl:

Here are some of the slides from the Power point presentation:Mashpee Village My Food Story

More here: Mashpee village photovoice adults rpact food story

And here: KK’s FOOD STORY

 

Executive Summary

• Mashpee town in Barnstable county has a total population of 14,006 (U.S. Census, year 2010). The diversity in racial distribution includes 90% whites, 2.9% African-Americans, 2.8% Native Indian, with other races contributing to the remaining percentage.
• Unemployment rate in Mashpee is 8%. In the broader community in Barnstable county, the percentage of people living under poverty level is 8.1% (year 2009).
• Residents living in Mashpee Village (an initiative of the non-profit organization, The Community Builders) are of low socioeconomic status.
• Low socioeconomic status has been positively associated with poor diet quality.
• Only 34.4% of Barnstable population meets the minimum recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables (Community Health Status Indicators, 2009). This percentage is lower among people of low socioeconomic status
• Among the goals and objectives of Healthy People 2020, there are three objectives relevant to this subject matter:

1. Reducing the percentage of food insecure households from 14.1 to 6 in the US

2. Increasing the daily mean intake of vegetables from the current 0.8 cup to 1.1 cups per  1000 kcal of intake and

3. Increasing the daily mean intake of dark green or orange vegetables or legumes from 0.1 cup to 0.3 cup per 1000 kcal intake

• Residents of Mashpee Village have low levels of nutrition knowledge, self-efficacy in cooking healthy foods, self-efficacy in shopping healthy foods in low-budget
• Residents of Mashpee Village have moderate levels of skills in gardening vegetables and in accessing local food resources available for low-income families
• Increasing nutrition knowledge along with increasing self-efficacy of healthy cooking skills and shopping for healthy foods in low-budget and increasing skills for gardening vegetables – all have shown to improve diet quality and increase intake of fruit and vegetables.
•  Existing health and human services in Mashpee town offers medical system, community health clinic and food pantries.
• No comprehensive nutritional education program exists for Mashpee Village residents that could instill general nutrition knowledge, skills in healthy cooking, and skills in shopping for healthy foods in low-budget; existing resources for gardening vegetables and accessing local food resources has room for strengthening.

Reference:

1. Healthy People 2020 http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/objectiveslist.aspx?topicId=29
2. Foreshee RA and Storey ML. Demographics, not beverage consumption, is associated with diet quality. International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, 2006; 57 (7/8): 494-511
3. Brennan Ramirez LK, Baker EA, Metzler M. Promoting Health Equity: A Resource To Help Communities Address Social Determinants of Health. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2008
4. Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI) 2009 > Barnstable county http://www.communityhealth.hhs.gov/RiskFactorsForPrematureDeath.aspx?GeogCD=25001&PeerStrat=13&state=Massachusetts&county=Barnstable
5. Town of Mashpee official website: http://mashpeema.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/MashpeeMA_WebDocs/res
6. County Health Rankings & Roadmaps> Massachusetts> Barnstable

http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/#app/massachusetts/2012/barnstable/county/1/overall

7. Evans, A. R. (2012). Exposure to Multiple Components of a Garden-Based Intervention for Middle School Students Increases Fruit and

Vegetable Consumption. Health Promotion Practice, DOI: 10.1177/1524839910390357.

8. Sustainable Food Center. (2012, May 10). Sprouting Healthy Kids.

Retrieved from http://www.sustainablefoodcenter.org/sprouting- healthy-kids

 

In my next blog, I will given an update of the first half of program implementation.

Best wishes,

Kumara