Grant Renewal Will Help Erie House Continue Delivering Nutrition Education
A $30,000 grant renewal from UnidosUS and the Walmart Foundation will help Erie Neighborhood House continue delivering cooking workshops and nutrition education through the Comprando Rico y Sano initiative.
“The community we serve is disproportionately impacted by diabetes, heart disease, and obesity,” says Micaella Verro, director of the Health and Leadership Program at Erie House. “Nutrition education is key to preventing those diseases before they start.”
UnidosUS, previously known as NCLR (National Council of La Raza), is the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization.
Its nutrition education in collaboration with the Walmart Foundation and affiliate members like Erie House have produced stunning results. In the last year alone, Comprando Rico y Sano delivered face-to-face nutrition education to 73,000 individuals nationwide through charlas—conversations on nutrition—and engaged more than 12,000 people in cooking workshops and grocery store tours.
Erie House hosted 49 cooking workshops and 25 grocery store tours to reach close to 1,100 people through Comprando Rico y Sano last year.
At Erie House, close to 1,100 individuals received in-person nutrition education last year. The program hosted 49 cooking workshops and 25 grocery store tours to help residents throughout the city of Chicago and its suburbs shop for and prepare healthy, affordable meals for their families.
Verro credits Erie House community engagement specialist Elva Serna with helping Erie House reach a wide audience with nutrition education. “Her ability to form relationships is the key to our program’s success,” says Verro. “All of the classes are highly interactive, and Elva always finds a way to make it fun.”
Serna also trained 16 promotores de salud—health promoters—to help expand the reach of the program. Five of those individuals are currently on a rotation for leading workshops charlas.
To learn more about the Comprando Rico y Sano program at Erie House, please visit www.eriehouse.org/health.
About UnidosUS
UnidosUS, previously known as NCLR (National Coucil of La Raza), is the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization. Through its unique combination of expert research, advocacy, programs, and an Affiliate Network of nearly 300 community-based organizations across the United States and Puerto Rico, UnidosUS simultaneously challenges the social, economic, and political barriers that affect Latinos at the national and local levels. For 50 years, UnidosUS has united communities and different groups seeking common ground through collaboration, and that share a desire to make our country stronger. For more information on UnidosUS, visit www.unidosus.org or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.