City Harvest Programs

Nutrition Education

The Problem

The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has found that more than 50% of New Yorkers are overweight or obese. An unhealthy weight is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cancer, and heart disease.  In New York City, obesity is associated with poverty – a higher proportion of the population lives in poverty in those neighborhoods with the highest levels of obesity.

City Harvest's Response

City Harvest’s nutrition education programs work with members of low-income communities throughout the five boroughs to encourage positive eating behaviors by helping increase nutrition-related knowledge and changing skills, attitudes, and practices.

Our courses bring neighbors and families together to prepare meals, learn about foods that will positively impact their health, and discover ways to stretch their dollars so they don’t go hungry. Our hands-on courses include intergenerational programming as well as courses designed specifically for children, teens, young mothers, parents, adults, and seniors, all taught by our staff and/or volunteer culinary and nutrition professionals. Courses cover topics such as the food pyramid, how to store and prepare produce, the benefits of eating whole foods, benefits eligibility, budgeting, and physical activity.

City Harvest has provided  nutrition education programs since 2000.  We serve as the only provider in New York City of Cooking Matters. Share Our strength's Cooking Matters empowers families with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to prepare healthy affordable meals. City Harvest offers a number of original curricula.

City Harvest's Fruit Bowl works with Head Start, pre-school, and afterschool programs to provide children with nutritious snacks and encourage them to adopt life-long healthy eating habits. We teach agency staff to promote healthy eating, lead learning games on their own, and develop organizational policies that eliminate unhealthy food from program activities and mealtimes. Our Fruit Bowl Family Curriculum invites parents and caregivers to cook side by side with their children to ensure that nutrition lessons are reinforced at home.

City Harvest's Well Seasoned is a special curriculum targeted to seniors, one of the most vulnerable populations in the city. The curriculum is designed to bring seniors together with a special focus on four components – nutrition education, cooking, physical activity, and money management. The classes empower seniors to combat the issues that can cause food insecurity and lead to poor health, and provide them with the skills and knowledge necessary to remain independent and self-sufficient.

Who We Help

City Harvest targets our nutrition education programs to different age groups according to their specific needs:

Children
Teens
Adults
Families
Seniors

Funds for City Harvest’s Nutrition Education programs have been provided by:

The Mailman Foundation
Mellam Family Foundation
The Howard and Maryam Newman Family Foundation, Inc.
New York City Council
PepsiCo.
Share Our Strength
Murray G. & Beatrice H. Sherman Charitable Trust
Target
The Ruth Turner Fund, Inc.
U.S. Department of Agriculture - National Institute of Food and Agriculture
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development