Educate
Junior Chef Program
Summary: The Junior Chef Program is a culinary arts and agriculture nutritional education program for children. Students learn the ins and outs of the hospitality industry, from plant to plate. These hands-on classes give children the opportunity to gain skills in the kitchen and garden by learning to grow and make healthy, easy to prepare meals. In addition to the direct training, the students receive materials to prepare the meals at home with their families. Students learn how to protect themselves and their families from the threat of diabetes and obesity raging in many neighborhoods, while acquiring a comprehensive introduction to hospitality.
Description: What began as a grant funded pilot program under the organizational umbrella of Nourishing NYC has gladly become a fixture in our annual programming schema. Throughout the Junior Chef Program, children become empowered by the knowledge they gain, cooking for their families and seeking healthier means to break the correlation between low income households and obesity as well as diabetes in East Harlem. Now the Junior Chef Program is an award-winning, nationally recognized program that has attracted the attention of corporate partners such as Post, T.J Maxx, US FOODS, Sentry Centers and other large organizations. Our Junior Chefs have been featured on CNN, Fox Five News New York, and The Food Network. The Junior Chef Program lends a great deal of hope and opportunity to our New York City youth. In
addition to the regular classes, in November 2010, and 2011 Nourishing NYC ran an additional Junior Chef Class highlighting a Thanksgiving Menu. This workshop included culinary and nutritional instruction, educational booklet and a ten pound turkey for each child to bring home to their families for the holidays. Over 1000 turkeys and healthy recipes were distributed in fall 2011 for in-need children and families throughout New York City.
Clients served: The Junior Chef classes have been 90% underserved minorities. Their average BMI at the onset of the program was 21, with 91% percent of students officially recognized as overweight, obese or morbidly obese.
Community Nutrition Classes
Summary: Community Nutrition Classes offer hands-on nutritional education to the New York community on a bi-monthly basis. All classes are free and open to all ages.
Description: The goal of community nutrition classes is to introduce our clients to affordable and nutritionally dense grocery items and then demonstrate how they can be prepared in a healthy and delicious way. Menu items are usually quick and easy to prepare in order to fit into our client’s limited budgets. Classes also cover more general issues of nutrition, such as how to read nutrition labels and understanding the new “Choose My Plate” diagram.
Clients: In 2011, Nourishing NYC partnered with many community organizations to provide classes. The goal was to expand Nourishing NYC’s proven classes to organizations and clients whom are missing this nutritional education component. Our target clientele for community nutrition classes is low-income families. We tailor the classes to reach clients who have limited budgets but do have extended access to kitchen space. Health issues heavily affect our clients: 44% of attendees report knowing someone with diabetes and 11% report being diagnosed withtype-II diabetes. The classes cater to clients with high diabetes risk factors as well as a low
budget.
