Lead Agency: 1000 Friends of New Mexico

To encourage the 530 students at Valle Vista Elementary to try new healthy foods and eat more fruits and vegetables, the Fresh Snacks program provided more than 9,000 pounds of locally-grown produce during the school year. The food was procured from the Farm to Table/Farm to School program and delivered to students twice per week for mid-morning snacks. The Healthy Eating by Design partnership involved the school staff in the development of the program and paid for additional cafeteria staff time and kitchen equipment. The program was so successful that it served as a model for a summer snack program at Valle Vista and two other local elementary schools. Albuquerque Public Schools also included the Fresh Snacks protocol as part of its Wellness Policy Resource Guidebook, designed to help schools districtwide meet the wellness policy.

The Albuquerque Healthy Eating by Design project not only increased school staff and parents' awareness of the students' interest in healthy eating, their principal also created a guideline suggesting that teachers and staff avoid eating unhealthy foods in the presence of students and in the school's common areas. The principal, whose daughter attends the school, has been a role model in other ways. Instead of sending the traditional cake for her daughter's birthday party, she sent some of her daughter's favorite healthy foods such as bananas, cantaloupe and string cheese.

The program also had a positive effect at home. One student asked, "Can I take my snack home for my brother? He's never tasted a pear." Families received healthy eating tips and resources through tastings at neighborhood events, newsletters and classes at the school's family resource center. The partnership also developed a healthy eating refrigerator magnet through a collaborative process that involved generating a list of potential slogans and voting by parents to select the slogan "Snack Smart! Choose fruits and veggies!" Student photos appeared on each magnet.

The Healthy Eating by Design project helped the partnership strengthen its existing networks and form new ones. For example, the project director joined the New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council and led efforts to track statewide legislation with potential impact on access to healthy foods. The New Mexico state legislature passed seven priority bills related to healthy foods during its 2007 session. One of them, the New Mexico Grown Produce in School Lunches bill, is similar to the Healthy Eating by Design Fresh Snacks program and provides two additional servings of fruits and vegetables each week to schoolchildren. The Council's tracking efforts later served as a model in a policy panel presentation at the 2007 Southwest Marketing Conference.