Community Outreach

• CCOR’s Healthy Kids Club (HKC) program is sponsored by PA SNAP-Ed. Our staff provides education for preschool children and their families to improve healthy eating and increase physical activity.
• During the 2020-2021 school year, we provided virtual programming to over 1,600 preschoolers enrolled in over 100 Head Start and PreK Counts classrooms throughout 12 Central Pennsylvania counties. Our staff, the teachers and the children loved the Sesame Street Healthy Habits for Life curriculum! 

https://snaped.fns.usda.gov/library/materials/healthy-habits-life-sesame-street

CCOR’s SNAP-Ed funded School-Age programming reaches over 200 K-6 children enrolled in summer camps throughout Snyder, Union, Mifflin, Bradford & Tioga Counties.  Our team developed a virtual program using the Growing Healthy Habits curriculum, which uses gardening as a tool to teach about nutrition and physical activity. 

 https://snaped.fns.usda.gov/library/materials/growing-healthy-habits 

CCOR funds additional outreach such as:

• Events at Local Elementary Schools
• Director Jennifer Savage Williams and her Community Nutrition 456 students have planned and implemented interactive learning experience booths on nutrition and health topics for Ferguson Township Elementary students participating in the Community Education Extended Learning (CEEL) Program. These events provide the students with a unique, enriching, hands-on, learning experience. 
• In the Press: Nutritional sciences class reaches younger audience with educational event
• In the Press: Nutritional sciences students educate elementary school kids on healthy eating
• Dr. Savage Williams and her students have also attended Earth Day events at Ferguson Township Elementary where they planned and implemented 10 interactive learning experience booths that approximately 380 students rotated through. As part of this event, the Center partnered with Leslie Pillen, sustainable Student Farm Design Coordinator at Penn State University, in installing a community garden at the school.
• CCOR sponsored green smoothie demonstrations at Park Forest Elementary and Radio Park Elementary schools where we served green smoothies tastings to over 500 children and provided nutrition education on dark green vegetables and fruit.
• In the Press: Center shows kids it can be easy and tasty to be green 
• Events at Local Community Agencies
• CCOR sponsored an outreach event at the YMCA where quick, healthy meals & snacks were discussed with nutrition and the importance of a healthy diet. A food tasting for 32 YMCA campers, aged 6-12 years was offered at the YMCA of Centre County held at 115 W. Streamside Place, Springe Mills, PA.  CCOR staff coordinated event plans, interfaced with community partners, & implemented all activities in the field. 

• CCOR’s SNAP-Ed funded Adult programming aims to reach and engage low-income parents and caregivers in a variety of ways:
• Through our preschool and school-age programs, educational handouts and other items that reinforce the nutrition and physical activity messages taught in the classroom are sent home to parents and caregivers. 
• CCOR participates in family events and health fairs hosted by our community partners. 
• We partner with Head Start Home Visitation Programs to train and provide Home Visiting staff with the resources necessary to provide quality nutrition education to families during regularly scheduled visits.
• We have a long-standing partnership with  Pennsylvania Women, Infants, and Children (PA WIC) link to https://www.pawic.com/ to recruit mothers for our programming.
• We have developed and evaluated 6 online educational modules that teach parent responsive feeding strategies for infants and young toddlers.  (Is there a way to link some of that text to https://hhd.psu.edu/nutrition/online-module-development). We have adapted the SNAP-Ed approved curriculum such as Eat Healthy Be Active to be delivered one-on-one and in a virtual format. Link to https://snaped.fns.usda.gov/library/materials/eat-healthy-be-active-community-workshops
• We plan to develop additional online modules and virtual programs for parents of preschool and elementary aged children in the coming year!