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Corporate Best Practices: Altria's Salsa, Sabor y Salud |
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| Published on August 21, 2006 |
It all started with an idea to empower Latino families, caregivers and teachers across the United States to make healthy nutrition and fitness choices for children.That vision has become a reality in major metropolitan areas in New York and New Jersey, as well as Chicago, Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Miami, through an innovative and inspirational program known as Salsa, Sabor y Salud.
A collaboration between Kraft Foods and the National Latino Children’s Institute (NLCI), with input from the National Recreation and Park Association and Latino Health Communications, Salsa, Sabor y Salud is a dynamic and interactive eight-week program that teaches children and their families about healthy lifestyles in community-based settings.Salsa, Sabor y Salud engages both children and their caregivers in ways that are fun and easy to understand, and includes such family-based activities as songs, games, physical activity cards and captivating posters.
Obesity has emerged as a major public health concern across the nation, and Latino children have been reported by the Centers for Disease Control to have among the highest rates of obesity and have the lowest fitness rates of any group of children.At Kraft Foods, we have a deep commitment to help people around the world eat and live better and, out of that mission, Salsa, Sabor y Salud was born.
Since 2002, Kraft Foods’ $4 million commitment has supported the development, implementation and evaluation of Salsa, Sabor y Salud with local community partners at 78 sites across the United States.It’s an initiative that has been embraced by community partners in six states – many whom have found Salsa, Sabor y Salud to be the “perfect conduit to help families recognize that they have the power to change their lives.”
When I recently sat down with Amina Dickerson, Kraft’s Senior Director of Global Community Involvement, she shared inspiring first-hand accounts from community partners, families and children.“Parents have embraced the principles of the program in their daily lives as they share recipes with each other, recruit other parents and family members to practice healthy lifestyle choices, and reap the psychological benefits of setting healthy goals as a family.”
Patricia Lara Garza, Kraft’s Associate Director of Focus Giving, and the real visionary of the program, points out that in the first two years of the Salsa, Sabor y Salud program, 99 percent of the participants surveyed indicated that they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the program components, while 100 percent commented that Salsa, Sabor y Salud promotes respect for their beliefs and traditions.Another 93 percent of the participants reported their families are eating more nutritious meals, while 92 percent said they are better grocery shoppers as a result of the healthy lifestyles program.
“We have also seen significant improvement in the physical activity behavior of the families who have participated in the curriculum.In fact, the average number of days of moderate to vigorous physical activity increased from 2 days to 3.5 days,” says Patricia.
NLCI has been instrumental in the development of the Salsa, Sabor y Salud initiative, including Josie Garza, NLCI Deputy Director, who says the key to success lies in the unique approach of the program.“It’s an interactive program that values Latino culture and traditions, while recognizing the limited services available to Latino children and their families when it comes to teaching important lessons about food, nutrition and physical activity.”
Salsa, Sabor y Salud is a program that works because it encourages a ‘whole center’ approach that brings together all program staff to create a healthier environment for the children.Or as one of our community partners shared with us recently, “It’s a whole family program – very much ‘entre familia’!”
Kraft Foods has long recognized the important role that a balanced diet and plenty of physical activity can play in leading a healthy life.The Salsa, Sabor y Salud program represents a vital collaboration with the NLCI to instill real-world solutions that parents and children can put to work right away.For more information on the program, please contact NLCI at 210-228-9997.
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