Work in Action

UTHealth Houston Partners with Brighter Bites to Evaluate Produce Prescription Strategy

As part of the White House commitment to Hunger, Nutrition and Health, UTHealth Houston and Brighter Bites non-profit organization, are partnering together to implement and evaluate the impact of a comprehensive produce prescription strategy consisting of access to fresh produce plus nutrition education for implementation among food-insecure children and their families through school-based health centers. There are more than 3,200 school-based health centers across 48 U.S. states with over 7 million children receiving primary care at these clinics. The initiative will start in Texas with partners such as Legacy Community Health, the largest Federally Qualified Health Center in Texas. With the national footprint of Brighter Bites, the produce prescription approach will be scaled so that it is available for implementation across school-based health centers nationwide.

Brighter Bites is a national nonprofit with a mission to create communities of health through fresh food. Brighter Bites uses a simple, three-part formula: Produce Distribution + Nutrition Education + Fun Food Experience. The national program provides regular access to a variety of fresh produce along with nutrition education exposure and healthy tips and tools to families in under-resourced communities across the country. When participating in the program, studies show the Brighter Bites families indicate a significant increase in the amount of fruits and vegetables consumed, a significant decrease in the amount of added sugars consumed among children, and an increase in cooking and nutrition label knowledge. And these habits have shown to stick! https://brighterbites.org/research/

Brighter Bites partners with UTHealth Houston to collect data to inform program, policy, and advocacy.

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More Work in Action

Mass General Brigham

In March 2023, Mass General Brigham opened the Revere Food Pantry. This new food pantry was not only to supply food to those in need, but also a teaching kitchen designed to serve as an educational opportunity for both adults and children. Here, they are learning the importance of preparing nutritious and delicious meals with ingredients readily available at the pantry.

Teens Show Leadership by Serving their Community

In Durham, North Carolina 56 percent of school-aged children qualify for free and reduced lunch during the school year. However, due to a gap in the system that provides those meals, as many as 15,000 children, adolescents and teens may be without access to regular meals during some or all of the summer. Enter echoReverb, the teen-led segment of the entrepreneurship support organization ECHO. ECHO, based in Durham, is a community-based organization aiming to create innovation and entrepreneurship. But why leave entrepreneurship just to adults? Through echoReverb teenagers have the opportunity to become entrepreneurs and use their inspiration to make their big ideas become a reality.