The Walmart Foundation, in partnership with National 4-H Council, has awarded ISU Extension and Outreach 4-H and Families a Healthy Living: Youth Voice: Youth Choice grant to support, facilitate, and improve healthy food choices in youth. Additional partners in this project are the Iowa Department of Education: Team Nutrition and the Midwest Dairy Council. This initiative creates community based youth/adult partnerships that support youth teaching other youth about the benefits of healthy food choices.

Iowa MGs are invited to join in this partnership by developing youth teams in their local communities that focus on 1) the growing and eating of fruits and vegetables and 2) communicating and demonstrating to other youth and adults the benefit of healthy food choices and how local gardens factor into that benefit. Fifteen mini-grants worth $1000 each will be available for development and implementation of the MG youth/adult teams and program delivery.

Examples of programming options:

• develop or partner with on-going community and/or school garden program that provides fun, educational program to youth  
• develop a vegetable garden at a day care or nursing home
• develop educational presentations or working exhibits about how community gardens support healthy food choices. Presentations can be delivered to community organizations, school classrooms, grocery stores, farmers markets, county fairs (think wine tasting but instead vegetables or fruits tasting)
• map community gardens and promote benefits of healthy food choices through a media campaign
• other innovative projects that combine youth/adult partnerships, youth teaching youth, and healthy food choices