Healthy Futures Starting In The Kitchen

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

Healthy Futures Starting in the Kitchen is a unique collaboration between the Mecklenburg County Health Department (MCHD) and Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte to address pediatric obesity in Mecklenburg County. This innovative program offers foodservice providers in large childcare centers in Mecklenburg instruction on how to purchase, prepare, and serve healthy foods. The primary goal of the program is to build the capacity of the foodservice providers—most of whom have not had professional training in child nutrition—to provide healthy food options to the children in their centers. The training sessions for the foodservice providers are supplemented and reinforced with additional training opportunities for childcare administrators and “take home” lessons for parents. This pilot program with an evaluation component will lead to replication in other parts of North Carolina and beyond.