Building healthier communities through gardening and nutrition education

DALLAS, Jan 20, 2022 — Access to healthy foods is a major barrier to health equity, and nutrition insecurity has become even more prevalent since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic[1]. To help address this gap, the American Heart Association, the world's leading nonprofit organization focused on heart and brain health for all, with support from CAULIPOWER, is funding 50 schools and community gardens to boost garden-based learning, enabling equitable access to healthy foods and innovating nutrition education nationwide through its Teaching Gardens Network.

The Teaching Gardens® program addresses the healthy eating challenges facing our nation's children and families by supporting school and community gardens.

The Teaching Gardens program inspires innovation and incubates new strategies for improving access to healthy food in under-resourced communities. The grants are made possible through a $1 million, three-year commitment to the American Heart Association from CAULIPOWER.

"Year over year, American Heart Association statistics show that too many children are not eating enough fruits and vegetables, which puts them at higher risk of cardiovascular risk factors, such as childhood diabetes and high blood pressure earlier in life," said Federico Asch, MD, FACC, FASE, volunteer medical expert for the American Heart Association. "Developing cardiovascular risk factors early in life exponentially increases a child's risk of heart disease and stroke in adulthood. It's critical that all kids have – regardless of where they live and their socio-economic situation- access to fresh fruits and vegetables and to proper education on healthy nutritional habits to help start their health journey early in life. This is the goal of the Teaching Gardens initiative"

Gail Becker, founder and CEO of CAULIPOWER, makers of ready-to-use plant-powered food items, added, "These gardens are real-life laboratories where kids and adults alike can learn the benefits of healthy eating while growing their own produce. School and community gardens have long provided spaces to cultivate fresh produce, learning, and a connection with the environment. During the pandemic, these urban gardens have made a difference and put fresh fruits and vegetables on the tables of families most in need."

2021-22 grant recipients include:

Ensuring equitable health for all has long been a guiding value of the American Heart Association. With its new 2024 impact goal, the Association recommits to advancing cardiovascular health for all, including identifying and removing barriers to health care access and quality. The American Heart Association will raise and invest more than $230 million of its own funds over the next four years to support targeted initiatives and programs, while leading additional efforts to drive systemic public health change focused on removing barriers to equitable health for everyone, everywhere.