At Bennett Park Montessori Center, Buffalo, NY

Access to wholesome, fresh, nutritious food and lack of physical activity impacts children's health and well-being. Efforts to combat obesity and chronic illness among children are staring nationwide. Buffalo is at the forefront of making a difference in children's health through 'Healthy Eating by Design' - an innovative 18-month pilot project, staring September 29, 2005, that promotes healthy eating and active living among children.

Healthy Eating by Design (HEbD) promotes access to healthy foods for children in low-income communities. HEbD's goals are to:
Develop effective partnerships of community organizations to promote healthy eating
Raise awareness of the benefits of healthy eating among children and their families
Increase access and availability to healthy food
Enhance policy and organizational supports for healthy eating
Improve built environments to promote healthy eating and active living

Healthy Eating by Design is based at Bennett Park Montessori Center, a Pre-K through 8 public school location on Clinton Street near Buffalo's downtown. The project will implement the following activities to promote healthy eating and active living among school children:

Farm-to-Cafeteria Program A free salad bar is the school cafeteria will provide children with organic, fresh produce from local farms, the school's own garden, and locally-owned businesses. After-school Gardening Program An after-school gardening program will teach children about the connection between healthy growing and healthy eating. Healthy Education in the Classroom Food and nutrition education will be integrated with school curriculum to support a school-wide focus on healthy eating for students and families. Art and Health 'Healthy eating in school' will be celebrated through mural painting by children and local artists. Celebrate Food and Family Weekly community dinners will feature 'local and healthy food' for children and their families. Promote Active Living by Design Children will design a community 'Healthwalk' to promote walking to school.

The project envisions immediate improvements in access to healthy food for participating children and long-term policy changes to promote healthy eating among children in Buffalo.

A pilot project of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). RWJF, based in Princeton, N.J., is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. For more information, go to www.rwjf.org.

Local Project Partners
• Bennett Park Montessori • Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus • Massachusetts Avenue Project
Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University at Buffalo
Native Offerings Farms • Urb Gardens • Food Services Department, Buffalo Public School

For additional information, please contact Mike Ball, Project Manager, BNMC.