Healthy Latino Schools: Events Page

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Parents United for Healthy Schools Training

This past August 7th, 9th, 14th, & 16th: LVEJO, Healthy Schools Campaign and West Town Leadership United hosted a"Parents United for Healthy Schools Training" to work with parents from around the city including Little Village and West Town on how to create Wellness Teams in there Schools. Thanks to the support of these organizations and many others including Power-Pac, COFFI, and Parents United a Local School Wellness Policy was adopted on August 23rd, 2006 at Chicago Public Schools.

Through the Healthy Latino Schools Campaign, a four day training was held with facilitators, Guillermo Gomez, Idida Perez and Kim Wasserman Nieto. Over the training parents learned how to conduct a power analysis, create a web of support and work plan for there schools. Parents were divided up into regions and planned together for there communities, as well as made commitments to meet bi-monthly or monthly to give report backs on there progress and support of each other. On the fourth day parents hosted a Q&A with Ken P. of the Chicago Public Schools and ideas were developed on how parents could ask for support from the main office. This training is what we hope is the beginning of Healthy Food and activity for our children on a daily level.

This training is what we hope is the beginning of Healthy Food and activity for our children on a daily level.

Healthy Schools Update 2007

Chicago, Feb. 23, 2007 -- For the first time, Chicago Public Schools principals, community leaders, parents and caregivers came together for a dynamic Principals Breakfast for School Wellness to discuss innovative strategies for improving student health in school and meeting the requirements of the new district-wide wellness policy.

The event was presented by Parents United for Healthy Schools/Padres Unidos Para Escuelas Saludables, a coalition of 22 independent parent organizations brought together by the Healthy Schools Campaign.

The forum comes at a time when more than 17 percent of U.S. children are overweight or obese and an equal number have been diagnosed with asthma. In addition to the alarming national epidemic, Chicago is facing increasing health disparities that leave children in low-income Latino and African-American communities with rates of asthma and obesity more than twice the national average.

In West Town, for example, approximately 28 percent of children experience asthma and 73 percent are overweight or obese. In North Lawndale, approximately 23 percent of children have asthma and 68 percent are overweight or obese.

The breakfast offered a unique opportunity for those who care about Chicago children’s health to unify their efforts to implement the Chicago Public Schools’ new wellness policy. The policy, which CPS adopted in August 2006 in response to a federal mandate, is designed to be implemented at a school level. This means that in order for it to be effective, principals must make decisions that lead to increased healthy food and physical activity in schools.

Parents throughout Chicago have raised questions about the extent to which the wellness policy is being implemented in their children’s schools, often advocating for principals to carry out the policy’s requirements for healthy food and physical activity more extensively.

“When it comes to wellness, we’re all working toward the same goal -- healthy children who are prepared to succeed,” explains Guillermo Gomez, Chicago director for the Healthy Schools Campaign, an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to healthy school environments.

“This breakfast stands out as a unique opportunity for principals and people from the community to sit at the same tables in a collaborative spirit and learn about the changes we can make together so that our kids will be healthy and ready to learn.”

Partnership to Reduce Disparities in Asthma
and Obesity in Latino Schools

This Summer has been a great start to developing and implementing the parents ideas for family exercise and better nutrition. August is the third month for our three teams including Community Garden Club on 28 th & Millard Ave. where moms, dads, and kids are learning to cultivate vegetables and herbs, that they learned how to plant at the beginning of the season, to eat and cultivate into family gardens at home. They are also using the produce to cook nutritional recipes that were shared in early spring during the nutrition classes and now during there Club activities. The Garden Club meets every day at 10 a.m. (after aerobics class).

Community Gardens 2005

Home vegetable garden 2005

The Food Team is helping to find healthy foods in the community. The participants learned about nutrition and how to read labels during the Spring to help prepare them for the survey. Based on a food survey created by LVEJO Interns this summer the groups of parents visited local stores to see what healthy products they carry to help community members find the foods they should eat. A guide will be created this summer for participants and store owners have been very receptive to the project and have asked LVEJO to provide a list of healthy products community members would like to see to help improve the communities eating habits.

Food Team in action
...

The Exercise Team has grown by leaps and bounds this summer. The group has divided into two categories: the Community Walking Club that meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 8:30 p.m. and the Aerobics Team that meets daily. At the beginning of the Summer there was only one school hosting morning exercise classes. Today there are over 6 schools offering morning exercise classes all around the community for free. The classes are beginning to diversify with a couple of young men attending (LVEJO Interns) as well as hopefully continuing to grow to more schools. The Aerobics Classes are Tuesday's and Thursday's from 8 to 9 a.m. and on Friday's from 9 to 10 a.m. at Little Village Academy and at Gary School from Monday to Friday's from 9 to 10 a.m.

school aerobics class - dec. 2004 - summer 2005

If you would like to volunteer and /or participate in any of these Clubs please contact Jovita Flores at LVEJO.

Healthy Latino Schools continued...

Body Mass index presentation to parents May 2005
Click on any image for a full sized view

LVEJO volunteers learn how to take height and weight
of local students and calculate Body Mass Index.

Wednesday Meetings - Learning Healthy ideas

Parent Volunteers Learning to take students weight and height

Campaigns | Healthy Latino Schools Campaign | Coverage - Events - Research

For general information please email us here.

Other important topics
Clean Air/Lulac Study
Healthy Schools In Latino Communities flyer
"Tips on Base Building" from LVEJO Board Member Carlos Fernandez

El Cilantro Youth Newsletter
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