Research & Practice
Improving meal quality and nutrition education in Seattle Parks and Recreation teen programs
Seattle Parks and Recreation (“Parks”) is a municipal governmental organization which “provide[s] safe and welcoming opportunities to play, learn, contemplate, and build community.” One of the ways they accomplish their mission is by holding a large number of after-school and late-night programming for teens, most of which include meals and some of which involve teen cooking classes. Although meals and classes already offer opportunities for teens to improve dietary habits, there is still room for improvement. The teen programs face a lack of:
- Curriculum in Parks’ teen cooking classes.
- Budget for teen meal programs.
- Systematization in the procurement of foods for the teen meal programs.
- Efficiency in the preparation of food for the Teen Late Night program.
The objectives of this project were to:
- Improve the capacity of teens to cook healthy meals for themselves.
- Obtain outside funding for teen meals to improve meal quality.
- Start a path toward forming a sustainable sourcing system for Parks.
- Improve efficiency and lower costs of the Late Night program.
- Collect a set of healthy recipes for teens.
Materials Available
Project Type(s): MPH Practicum, PH Concentration Poster
Author(s): Elisabet Eppes
Program(s): Master of Public Health, RDN Training
Year: 2013
Adviser(s):