Working on Wellness Environments
Working on Wellness Environments (WOW-E) is a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension multidisciplinary community development program

Rio Grande City Public Library StoryWalk (TM)

by

In partnership with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s Working on Wellness Environment’s team, the Rio Grande City Public Library held its first-ever StoryWalk(TM). The event was held at Miriam S. Vale Municipal Park in Rio Grande City, TX. StoryWalk(TM) combines literature and physical activity and places a children’s story along a walking path. The WOW-E team worked with local librarian Norma Fultz, the City of Rio Grande City, and community volunteers to bring the StoryWalk(TM) to life. To read more about StoryWalk(TM) click here.

If you would like more information on how you can start a StoryWalk(TM) in your community, reach out to a WOW-E team member.

Zapata Health Youth Ambassadors to Improve Romeo T. Flores Park with 2021 WOW-E Community Challenge Grant

by

Tell us what you think about the Pop-Up Demonstration and Romeo T. Flores Park. Let us know here: tx.ag/parkPopUp (Link will be open between 10/23/2021 at 10:00am – 10/25/2021 at 11:59pm)

The Zapata Health Youth Ambassadors are thrilled to announce they were selected to receive the 2021 WOW-E Community Challenge grant. These are community grants supporting increased physical activity levels and improved access to healthy foods in five Texas counties: Hudspeth, Maverick, Starr, Webb, and Zapata.

The Zapata project provides technical assistance to install temporary crosswalks connecting the Romeo T. Flores Park and activate unused spaces within the park. This offers multiple potential benefits, like increasing pedestrian and cyclist safety, encouraging physical activity, and increasing park usage. This will help Zapata feel more like a connected community by temporarily improving the park’s appearance and encouraging people to use the park more often.

Pop-up projects like this are an important part of community change because they are relatively easy, low-cost, and temporary. These sorts of demonstrations can serve as pilot tests for more permanent and future changes. Feedback from the community is essential for measuring the project’s success. With that information, the Zapata Health Youth Ambassadors can make recommendations to the County Commissioners encouraging similar projects in other Zapata parks.

With assistance from other community members and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Zapata County, the Zapata Health Youth Ambassadors will tackle this project from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Oct. 23-24.

“We are incredibly proud that Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Working on Wellness Environments selected the Zapata Health Youth Ambassadors to receive this grant, made possible with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” said Sammy Luera, Extension Health Agent. “The WOW-E Community Challenge is an initiative to jump-start community efforts utilizing policy, system, and environmental changes and we hope to see wonderful results from our efforts.”

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension WOW-E Community Challenge funds local projects that have one or more of these four goals:

  • Enhance healthier food access and sales
  • Establish health nutrition and physical activity standards in community places
  • Implement efforts to establish new or improved active transportation

The challenge is part of the WOW-E work. They take a collaborative approach promoting increased physical activity levels and improved access to healthy foods. This project prioritizes local solutions and transformative change to health-related challenges in Texas communities. To learn more about the WOW-E Community Challenge, visit wowe.tamu.edu/pse/wowecc. 

Football, Fall, and Farm to School

by

By Rebekka Dudensing, PhD

Kids on bales of hay at a pumpkin patch and corn maze.

When we think about October, we usually think about pumpkins, fall leaves, and football games on chilly Friday nights. Fall festivals and Halloween festivities abound. The October calendar is also home to Health Literacy Month, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, National Health Education Week, among other awareness events.

One of the fun October events for students is National Farm to School Month. Congress created Farm to School Month in 2010 as a result of advocacy by the National Farm to School Network.[1] Just over a decade later, school children across the U.S. are celebrating farms and trying new foods each October.

Research in Central Texas showed that schools want to serve local foods. While price can be one barrier as farmers need to at least breakeven and schools have tight budgets, the type of product and how it is processed also affects is potential in schools. For example, cut “baby” carrots and broccoli florets require processing but are easier for many schools to prepare and serve.

School bus parked in front of a farmers market

Extension offers suggestions to help school food service professionals incorporate more local foods into school meals. Recommendations include choosing one food and building relationships with farmer suppliers or with existing distributors who may be able to obtain food from local suppliers.

During Farm to School Month, school food service may be helping students taste local products, many of which may be unfamiliar to youth. Teachers may plan field trips that let students explore the farms that produce their foods. They may also invite farmers to visit class. Agriculture is a science that provides countless opportunities for students to learn and grow. And with the USDA recently noting that 10.3 percent of U.S. jobs are in agriculture and related industries, agriculture science is valuable knowledge!

Families can celebrate Farm to School Month too. Visit a farm—pumpkins patches are great this time of year—or visit a farmers’ market and try a new food. If there isn’t time for that, find a local product at your grocery store and try that. Stores often mark local produce and specialty products (jams, pickles, etc.). Maybe you’ll even find a local treat for your fall festival or trick-or-treating. For more information and resources on Farm to School visit here.

National farm to school month logo. Features a person driving a tractor on a page of a book.

[1] Celebrate Farm to School Month. https://assets.website-files.com/5c469df2395cd53c3d913b2d/61103f5761ddcbdcdb02aab4_F2S%20Month%20Fact%20Sheet%202017.pdf

Early Childhood Educator Training Program – May 22, 2021

by

The Working on Wellness Environments Program and Texas A&M Agrilife Extension are offering an Early Childcare online conference May 22nd from 9am to 12pm on Zoom. This special event will focus on Obesity Prevention Standards and Strategies: Overview of New Texas Minimum Standards and How to Meet (and Exceed!).

The cost to register is free (sponsored by WOW-E) but spot availability is prioritized to ECE’s located in Starr, Webb, Maverick, Zapata, and Hudspeth counties. The conference will review the updated Texas ECE standards for nutrition and physical activity and discuss best practices for implementing policies to support these standards. The mini-conference will be held on May 22nd, 2021 from 9am-12pm CT via Microsoft Teams. Clock hours will be available for attendees.

Registration link: https://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/Childhood

Staff Highlight – Victorino Cantu

by

Victorino Cantu is a Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Associate working with the CDC-funded Working on Wellness Environments (WOW-E) program in Starr County. A local asset to the program, Victorino primarily works on the ground, helping local groups create healthy changes in communities along the Texas-Mexico border.

Over the past two years, Victorino has been involved in several projects. He coordinates a Farm to School grant at RT Barrera Elementary in Roma, TX, and assisted the school in securing an NRCS GREEN grant to purchase a pollinator garden and a high tunnel to expand farm production. Victorino is supporting local groups in expanding school garden and orchard efforts to other schools by facilitating the creation of operations manuals and meeting with other schools already excelling in Farm to School efforts.

Victorino has also helped facilitate a downtown walkability and connectivity project. His engagement with the local community has included communication, coordination, and showing a “behind the scenes” look at the infrared sensors being used to collect walking movement in downtown Rio Grande City.

Victorino’s passion for creating healthy lifestyles and access to healthy places exudes through his work. Victorino is looking forward to continuing Policy, System, and Environmental change work and continuing with rural communities and healthy changes.