Reaching the Latino Community in Colorado Betsy Ambrosino, Bilingual Senior Coordinator Cooking Matters Colorado

“Latinos—the largest racial and ethnic minority group in the nation—face a disproportionately high rate of hunger and food insecurity;” (NCLR Nutrition Report 2006) Cooking Matters for Teens class participants, Fall 2011

63% of participants served in Cooking Matters programming in Colorado self-identified as Latino or Hispanic in 2010.

No Kid Hungry Colorado Campaign The No Kid Hungry Colorado Campaign launched in November 2009 The Campaign is a partnership between the office of Governor Hickenlooper, Hunger Free Colorado, and Share Our Strength Visit the new No Kid Hungry Colorado Campaign website at: co.nokidhungry.org

No Kid Hungry Colorado 10 Point Plan 1.Provide children access to healthy meals during the summer. 2.Ensure that all children have access to a nutritious breakfast. 3.Support families with the ability to purchase and acquire food to prepare at home. 4.Ensure the nutrition and health of pregnant and postpartum women, infants and young children. 5.Support child care providers’ ability to provide healthy meals and snacks. 6.Help afterschool programs provide children with good nutrition and healthy snacks. 7.Encourage children and families to make healthy food choices through nutrition education-Cooking Matters. 8.Ensure access to high-quality nutritious food in low-income communities and schools. 9.Ensure families can access food from food banks and food pantries. 10.Improve the economic security of working families.

Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters ® empowers families at risk of hunger with the skills, knowledge and confidence to make healthy and affordable meals. With the help of volunteer culinary and nutrition experts, course participants learn how to select nutritious and low-cost ingredients and prepare them in ways that provide the best nourishment possible to their families.

Barriers to reaching the Latino Community Language Geographic accessibility of resources and services Familiarity

Eliminating the Barriers: Language Cooking Matters Colorado and Hunger Free Colorado employ bilingual staff members to help to serve the Spanish-speaking community in Colorado Spanish-speaking volunteer program Interpreter guidelines Working in a bilingual, multicultural classroom—instead of frustrating, think of it as beneficial! – some volunteers and participants speak English only, some speak Spanish only— successfully providing interpretation in both English and Spanish helps to encourage participants’ and volunteers learning in both languages, and breaks down barriers to understanding different cultures! -Cooking Matters para Familias chef works with interpreter and families to facilitate group learning

Label Reading Becomes an ESL Lesson 9

Eliminating the Barriers: Geographic Cooking Matters’ model is to partner with local agencies who serve low- income families Cooking Matters brings the class to the agencies where families already feel comfortable and have established bonds (public schools, faith-based organizations, food pantries, Head Starts, WIC clinics, community centers) Cooking Matters CO also participates in 1-time educational outreach events doing nutritious food demonstrations in places like youth farmer’s markets, produce and health fairs held at Public Health Departments, and at food pantries Participants learn affordable shopping skills during grocery store tours in Week 5 of Cooking Matters for Adults/para Adultos courses or in Shopping Matters tours. Grocery store tours are held where the participants prefer to shop locally, so that we can encourage healthy habits where they already shop.

HFC Summer Food Website (summerfoodcolorado.org) Linguistically-appropriate Food Assistance and Summer Meal outreach cards A fully bilingual (multilingual in fact) Food Assistance & Summer Meal hotline for Spanish-speakers to call to find the closest summer meal sites or to be screened for all public assistance programs These business cards are distributed to agencies serving low- income families throughout the state and in each Cooking Matters course held in the spring and summer. Food Assistance and Summer Meals: Eliminating the Geographic and Language Barriers

Summer Meals: Eliminating Geographic and Linguistic Barriers This unique mapping tool helps families find the summer meal sites closest to their home Cooking Matters Colorado staff distributes lists of the 3 closest meal sites to all spring and summer course participants in Spanish and English (104 courses completed May- August 2011)

Go where participants go Reliable interpretation Childcare Familiarity with foods available and local food sources Recipe choices Cooking Matters sends home grocery bags so that participants can practice the recipes and new ingredients learned in class at home with their families. Eliminating the Barriers: Familiarity

¡Cooking Matters con Zumba!

Successful Outreach Strategies Reliable services in Spanish Bring services to the community SNAP outreach and enrollment assistance in Cooking Matters courses Spanish-speaking outreach and marketing campaign Bilingual staff Help to establish more summer meal sites (203 in 2009, 309 in 2010)

Moorhead Recreation Center Aurora, Colorado School District 84% Free and Reduced Lunch Rate Cooking Matters para adultos and familias courses SNAP Outreach and enrollment assistance during CM courses Summer Meal Site Summer Meals and School Breakfast Outreach in CMC courses Surrounding public schools participate in universal Free and Reduced Lunch Pantry food demos and recipe cards