Publicity for Expansion in Nutritional Programs

A proposal to the City of Albuquerque Family and Community Services Department from
Kids Cook!, a multicultural nutrition and food education program.

Introduction
The health education of Albuquerque children is a growing issue in our communities.
Many children go home from school, sit on the couch, and wait for dinner to be ready. The next
day, they get school breakfast or lunch without worrying about whether or not it is good for
them. With the increasing rates of childhood diabetes in our nation, we need to rethink what we
are teaching our children about nutrition in the school setting and at home. Health classes are not
an innovation, it might be time to attack our community health problem from a different angle. If
we can incorporate nutrition into our schools curriculum in a fun environment, we can hope for
a brighter future and health for the children of our communities. There is a program available to
our communities called Kids Cook! that brings health education to our children in a setting
where they actually want to learn and have fun doing it. Many of our Albuquerque Public
Schools do not incorporate this program into their curriculum, and this might be because of poor
publicity and a general unawares of the presence of this enlightening non-profit organization
Kids Cook! in Albuquerque.

The Current Issue

It is well known that there is an increasing problem in our nation with overall health due
to poor nutrition and exercise. Our growing obesity epidemic is greatly responsible for the
amount of heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer our population suffers
from. According to a Bernalillo Health Assessment in 2012, 25.6% of New Mexicos adult
population is defined as obese, putting us at 16th in the nation. While the health of our states

adult population is a concern, in regards to the future of our community health it is imperative for
our childrens health that an action be taken. There are a variety of immediate and long-term
consequences from overweight and obese children.
When children are classified as overweight or obese, it means that their Body Mass Index
(BMI) is greater than the 85th percentile of the population. Body Mass Index is based on a childs
gender, age, height, and weight and is useful for assessing the health of our young population.
Reports from the K to 8 Healthy Weight Assessment Project done by the Physical Activity and
Nutrition Advisory Committee in the Albuquerque Public School District explain that 34% of our
children were either overweight or obese in the school year 2009-2010. According to these
reports this number has increased since previous years. It is terrifying to think what our
population will look like in the future if the percent of overweight or obese children keeps
increasing.
For years there have been programs and initiation to bring this epidemic of obesity under
control in our schools and adult population, but as these numbers keep increasing the question is
what is stopping our efforts from working? There are a number of reasons for this growing
problem in our young population. The Bernalillo County Health Assessment from the Bernalillo
County Health Council suggests that poverty and access to education, as well as many other
factors, play an important role in susceptibility to disease. There is such a large health disparity
when it comes to income and education that these factors in particular need to be taken into
consideration when assessing the health of our community. A low income for families means less
availability for meals, and parents and providers have no choice but to think about what is most
affordable for their family, rather than what is most healthful. According to Albuquerque Public
Schools (APS), with 87,000 students in the district, two thirds of those students qualify for the

federal school lunch program, which means they are a low income family and either get free or
reduced lunch. Also, out of the 142 schools, 70 of them are identified as high poverty Title I
schools that qualify for federal funding. The assessment done by the Physical Activity and
Nutrition Advisory Committee shows the correlation of students that qualify for the federal
school lunch program (the lower income students) and the percent of overweight or obese. This
means that the lower the household income a child comes from, the more likely they are to be
overweight or obese. To be specific, two thirds of our elementary students are more likely to
apart of our health issue. While income is definitely not the only factor for our growing health
problem, it is one that requires serious consideration when our goal is a healthier Albuquerque.
Another cause to our communitys overweight or obese children is the lack of education
in the schools about nutrition and physical exercise. It is obvious that typical health classes are
not effective in our schools anymore. Without proper education about nutrition, how to make a
healthful meal, and the consequences of an unhealthy, inactive lifestyle how can we expect these
children to grow up to become responsibly healthy adults? What about in our middle and high
schools? When many high school seniors graduate, they begin living life on their own. How can
we expect them to cook healthy meals for themselves or even cook at all if they've never been
taught? With fast food restaurants so easily accessible and cheap, many people who haven't been
taught what is good for our bodies and that it is possible to cook an affordable, healthy meal will
go out to fast food chains every night. Our young adults, who will some day be parents and
workers of our community, will not understand the importance of nutrition and exercise. This is
why action needs to be taken to educate our children and families about the basic nutrition
necessities, how to cook healthful meals, and even that it is possible to live a healthy lifestyle on
a budget.

The Solution
While we can see that one cause of childhood obesity is poverty, that issue is another war
on its own. A factor that we can attack today, is changing schools curriculum slightly. If we can
incorporate a program that educates children about nutrition, the importance of exercise, and
how to cook a healthful meal, we can move towards a healthy Albuquerque. Imagine if all the
adults and parents in Albuquerque today were taught in schools not just how to cook, but to cook
nutritiously and affordably, and the benefits of a healthy meal. Would our demographics look as
they do today? Fortunately, there is a program here in Albuquerque that offers those benefits to
schools that can help our students and the future of our community health. Kids Cook! is a nonprofit organization that works with schools as a part of the curriculum to give students hands-on
experience with cooking, a well-rounded knowledge of nutrition, and the importance of daily
physical activity. However, only fourteen out of eighty eight elementary schools in the APS
district incorporate this program into their curriculum. No middle schools or high schools have
this program either. This program is not very well publicized and not many parents, students, or
educators know this program is available to their schools. If we were to advertise and advocate
for this organization, more schools would bring this program and make it apart of school
learning. But for them to initiate the program, they need to be enlightened about it first. This is
why we need funding for advocacy and advertisement for this non-profit organization that
benefits the community as a whole. With programs such as these, we can if not lower but slow
the rate of overweight or obese citizens and aim for a healthier Albuquerque and future.

Qualifications
As public health continues to become a concern for the community of Albuquerque, the
need to take action with early health education is now even more of a necessity. Fortunately,
there is something we can do today to hope for a healthier future. Kids Cook! has already
benefited 14 of the 88 elementary schools in the APS district. The mission of Kids Cook! is to
fill a gap in Elementary health education by encouraging children and families to adopt
healthier behaviors through hands-on preparation of a variety of nutrient rich foods paired with
daily physical activity. This organization aims to teach kids how to cook in a fun environment,
one where they want to learn. During these classes, educators guide students along in following a
recipe while at the same time explaining the importance of considering nutrition when cooking.
At the end of the class, the students take home the recipe they just learned to teach their family
how to make it. This encourages the student to teach his or her family too about the importance
of nutrition and gives them the opportunity to spend time with their family too. Through this
program, Kids Cook! aims to improve the overall health of children and families, while reducing
nutritionally related risks. These are the values and characteristics elementary schools need to

incorporate into their curriculum. Math and history have their own importance but when it comes
to the health education of our children, Kids Cook! steals the show in the classroom.

Cost and Benefits

As this is a non-profit organization, it has to find funding to run the programs and
enhance our community. What the organization needs now, is to let the people of Albuquerque
know that this program is available to them and how beneficial it would be to their lives. If we
could advertise through the radio, our local television channels, and roadside advertisement like
billboards, we can reach out to our community and encourage them to invite this program into
the elementary schools. Using methods such as these, advertising for this non-profit organization
would cost $30,000 for 6 months. A third of this will go to airing a radio announcement to target
those listening to the radio in the morning on their way to work to school. Another third would
go to a television commercial on a local channel so Albuquerque residents can actually see a
short example of what Kids Cook! does and gives the audience a better visual on what Kids
Cook! is. In this commercial we would also encourage people to donate to help the programs
with educating the future of Albuquerque. The last third would go to a billboard on the side of
i25 in Albuquerque. So many people drive the interstate everyday, and we could reach many of
those individuals with a roadside advertisement. $30,000 will not be wasted and all of it will go
to helping Kids Cook! reach the residents of Albuquerque.
Kids Cook! requests that you help with the funding for this project in order to encourage
our community to make steps towards a healthier lifestyle through nutrition and education. It is
comforting to know that today we can make a difference. Today we can take a step towards a
healthier city to enhance the lives of our citizens. As it is the mission of the Family and
Community Services Department of the City of Albuquerque Government to assist individuals

in meeting their housing, educational, recreational, health care, and other needs here is a
proposal where our government can meet one of their goals. Through your help and the Kids
Cook! program in schools, we are privileged to assist the individuals of Albuquerque.

Type of Advertisement
Radio Commercial
Television Commercial
Road-Side Billboard
Total

Estimated Cost
$10,000
$10,000
$10,000
$30,000

Works Cited
About Kids Cook. (n.d.). Retrieved July 06, 2016, from http://www.kidscook.us/
Bernalillo County Health Assessment. (n.d.). Retrieved July 6, 2016, from
http://www.bchealthcouncil.org/Resources/Documents/CINCH Health Assessment 1218-12.pdf
Family & Community Services. (n.d.). Retrieved July 09, 2016, from
https://www.cabq.gov/family
Scharman, T. (2011, March 28). K to 8 Healthy Weight Assessment Project. Retrieved from
bchealthcouncil.org

Multimodal: an advertisement

A non-profit organization
The Mission of Kids Cook! is to fill a gap in Elementary health
education by encouraging children and families to adopt healthier
behaviors through hands-on preparation of a variety of nutrient
rich foods paired with daily physical activity.

Say goodbye to boring health class.

Kids Cook! is a fun new way to learn how to
cook and learn about what is good for our
bodies! Kids and Parents! Talk to your teachers
or principal today about getting Kids Cook!
incorporated into your schools as a class!

Reflection
Starting this writing assignment was a bit intimidating. It seemed like there was so much
to include, so much to research, and so much to create. At first, I was at a loss of what to do my
proposal on. Whats interesting is that a few days before I started my proposal, I applied for a
work study job from the University that would allow me to work as an educators aide at Kids
Cook! When I applied for the position I looked up where it was located and what it was all about
and I realized I had never heard about it. My first thought was to propose to build more locations
for this organization. But after further research I learned that this program works within schools
to educate children, so there was not much need of another location. I then realized that I had
never even heard about this program and I learned that out of the many elementary schools in the
APS district, only a few of them worked with Kids Cook! So after some thinking I decided to
propose that we publicize and advocate for this organization so that more people would know
that it exists and in that way they might see if they can have it at their/their childrens schools.
Research for this proposal was easy. In recent years this health problem has become more of a
concern, so research, statistics, and observation has already taken place. I used information from
the APS home page, the Kids Cook! homepage, and information from the Bernalillo County
Health Council. I also viewed a couple news video in which the local news station brought in the
Kids Cook! director and children who participated in the program just to see what and how
information has already been shared with Albuquerque.
In regards to my audience, I made sure to state how this would help specifically the city
of Albuquerque, as my proposal is to the Family and Community Service Department. For this I
went to the City of Albuquerque government website to see exactly who I should direct my
proposal too that would make most sense and would be specific about it. The Family and

Community Service Department specifies that it is their goal to assist all individuals of our
community (Albuquerque) with whatever healthcare (and other needs) that they require. So
taking this audience into consideration, I stated that this program would help the department with
their goal as it directly aims to assist Albuquerque residents in their nutrition and education
needs. In this way, I tried to make my proposal persuasive for my specified audience.
The peer review was very helpful to me as Sara (who reviewed my proposal) gave me
great feedback. Having someone elses opinion was useful to see the things I might have missed
when I wrote and researched for my proposal. I took some of her advice, for example when she
suggested to specify where the money would be directed to, I went back to my cost/benefit
section to add more information. I didnt take all of her advice though. She suggested that I
expand on my issue of how our food system has morphed out food culture into one that values
fast, cheap, and easy to make or buy meals and how families dont cook as much as they used to.
This is a good idea, but I dont think it would be that helpful to my cause especially because it
would make my proposal even longer. I wanted to keep my proposal direct and not too long as
too much detail about the problem might make the reader less interested in my proposal. In
addition to this, I felt that the Family and Community Department might already be aware of the
problem our culture has with fast and easy food, but they might be less aware of the statistics of
overweight or obese children in our city. So overall, the peer review and working as a team for
that part was interesting and helpful.
In the end, I realized that this assignment wasn't as hard as it seemed, all it took was a bit
of thought and a little research. Honestly, the hardest part of this assignment was figuring out
how to use Canva and Piktochart (and refraining from getting completely annoyed at the
programs), not writing the actual proposal.