| Greensboro, NC: Wanting to help food stamp recipients
make healthier dietary decisions, food and nutrition faculty at North Carolina
A&T State University have launched a new project entitled, "Project
Eat Right -- Add to Life."
Combining the resources of the NC A&T Cooperative Extension Program,
the NC A&T Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, USDA's
Food and Nutrition Service, and the North Carolina Department of Human
Services Division of Social Services, the project adds an educational component
to the existing food stamp program.
"Food stamps give people resources to purchase food, but there has
never been an educational component," said Dr. Wilda Wade, a food
and nutrition specialist with the NC A&T Cooperative Extension Program
and the project's director. "The project will help participants learn
skills to improve their use of the food stamp program's resources."
The project will emphasize training for Cooperative Extension personnel
and high school family and consumer sciences teachers in consumer spending,
food preparation and dietary guidelines.
Teacher training will be coordinated by Dr. Rosa Purcell, chairperson of
NC A&T's Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, and will
help teachers update strategies on incorporating nutrition education into
their curricula.
Wade will coordinate the training of Extension personnel, who will in turn,
use the information in small groups or during individual contact while
working with adults in public and other subsidized housing.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, more than 21 million people
nationwide receive food stamps. The average benefit per recipient is $70.80
per month, and slightly over half of all food stamp participants are children
from households headed by a single parent.
"Food stamp recipients often haven't had the educational opportunities
others have had," said Wade. "Since they haven't been exposed
to dietary guidelines, they don't know how to stretch their limited resources
to make efficient purchases and prepare nutritious meals."
The project's target audience will be young homemakers, single-parent families
and youth who reside in public and subsidized housing. To reach youth,
the project trains teachers working in schools in which 51 percent or more
of the students are eligible for food stamps.
According to Wade, the expected outcome of the project is improvement in
the dietary decisions of foodstamp recipients, which will aid in the prevention
of many types of disease.
"The theme to all of the training and training materials is that if
you eat right, you can add to your quality of life," said Wade. "If
we can convince our audience of that, then these healthy dietary practices
will become habit and be perpetual in future generations."
"Project Eat Right -- Add to Life" is funded by USDA's Food and
Nutrition Service, and the North Carolina Department of Human Services
Division of Social Services.
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For more information, please contact Dr. Wilda Wade, NC A&T Cooperative
Extension Program, (336) 334-7850.
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