Growing Healthy
What is Growing Healthy?

In December 2002, ICH was awarded the Growing Healthy grant by the Massachusetts vitamin litigation settlement. The purpose of the grant is to increase student consumption of fruits and vegetables by improving access to, attitudes towards, acceptance of, and knowledge about fruits and vegetables.

Growing Healthy is a collaborative effort between the ICH, the Cambridge and Somerville public elementary schools, Cambridge and Somerville food service departments, CitySprouts, and Groundwork Somerville. The intervention took place throughout Cambridge and Somerville.

The Growing Healthy program was designed with three main components:

• Food Service Enhancement
  • Weekly Growing Healthy menu in Somerville
  • Recipe development for food service
  • Additional training of food service staff
• Garden Programs
  • After-school garden programs
  • Lunchtime garden clubs
  • Classroom curriculum ties to the gardens
• Applied Learning
  • Monthly taste-testing of fruit and vegetable of the month
  • Monthly newsletter with information and recipes about the fruit and vegetable of the month

Back to Growing Healthy