Local Matters

Programs: Food matters: food matters is a program that seeks to positively influence the eating habits of young children by teaching them what healthful food is, where it comes from, how it grows, and how to cook it. Through weekly lessons, we offer children language to talk about healthful foods and engage them in the preparation of whole grains, fruit and vegetables and plant proteins. The one-hour classes are hands-on and interactive, and incorporate ecology, geography, and literacy. In 2017, we reached 2,240 students with the 24-week whole-food based curriculum, averaging 11 hours of engagement per student. We also partner with program hosts to create on-site food-production gardens to be used for outdoor education. Through 147 community events, reached an additional 8,025 people.

cooking matters: cooking matters is a comprehensive food and nutrition education program designed to decrease hunger and prevent obesity among low-income parents and their children. Cooking matters empowers participants to cook affordable, healthful meals for themselves and their families through lessons that teach culinary skills, nutrition, hands-on meal preparation, and food shopping/budgeting. In 2017, local matters reached 512 graduates with the six-week series and an additional 424 participants with our cooking matters at the store tours.

community education and healthcare: local matters' culinary medicine program directly educates and encourages healthcare workers to take a "food as medicine" approach, allowing physicians and other medical professionals to become educators and supporters of healthful diets for their patients. Culinary instruction is aligned with the tulane university's goldring center for culinary medicine curriculum, a curriculum that is licensed to partnering healthcare systems. We partner with the ohio state college of medicine, the ohio state college of nursing, the ohio university heritage college of osteopathic medicine, the mount carmel college of nursing, the mount carmel health family and internal medicine residency programs, and the nationwide children's hospital pediatric residency program. Community education engagement efforts include pay-what-you-can programming in the caresource community kitchen (reaching 850 participants in 2017), community conversations, and food-systems consulting.