Programs

Map2HealthyLiving

The Map to Healthy Living(Click to open a new window) is a tool which helps Michigan’s SNAP-Ed providers to design, implement, and evaluate programming through enhanced needs assessment, gap analysis, and collaboration building. Since its launch in 2012, Map to Healthy Living™ has empowered SNAP-Ed providers to make data-driven decisions about programming in their communities.

Questions? Contact Michelle LaFleche at mlafleche@michiganfitness.org (email link), or call 517-908-3864.

Michigan Harvest of the Month

Michigan Harvest of the Month (MiHOTM) features supplemental resources for nutrition educators, farmers market navigators, classroom teachers, food service directors, and others implementing SNAP-Ed programming. It provides hands-on opportunities for participants to explore, taste, and learn about the importance of eating a variety of fruits and vegetables, as well as being physically active every day. MiHTOM provides ideas for food demonstrations and food tastings including a wide variety of recipes and experiential learning activities.

The objectives of MiHOTM include:

  • Increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables
  • Increasing access to fruits and vegetables through school meal programs, classrooms, school gardens, farmers markets, food retail stores, food pantries, worksites, and other community-based locations
  • Linking child-focused nutrition education in schools with adult-focused supports in community-based food access settings
  • Increasing the consumption of locally grown produce by connecting growers to their communities through farmers markets, food retail stores, schools, food pantries, and elsewhere

For resources on integrating MiHOTM into your SNAP-Ed programming, visit the MiHOTM resources page Click to open a new window.

Rec-Connect

Rec‐Connect: A Physical Activity Demonstration is a community-based direct education intervention designed to foster partnerships and increase SNAP-eligible participants’ access to physical activity (PA). It connects adults, kids, and families to places, programs, and people in their communities that support making physical activity a part of their daily lives. The playbook includes a Community Connection Plan to assess community-based PA assets and gaps that then guide the building of a demonstration series plan using a collaborative approach. There are also materials to guide educators on how to implement a set of 4 – 6 unique, one-time demonstrations that engage participants and offer social support to motivate others to be physically active. Social marketing is directed throughout the community to change attitudes, beliefs, and self-efficacy around physical activity at a population level.

Social Marketing

Social marketing is an evidenced based discipline that seeks to develop and integrate marketing concepts with other approaches to influence behaviors that benefit individuals and communities for the greater social good. Michigan Fitness Foundation applies social marketing principles and techniques to inform and inspire people facing barriers to eat healthy and move more. Healthy Choices Catch On Click to open a new window (which grew out of the successful They Learn From Watching You Click to open a new window uses USDA core messages that promote healthy eating and physical activity behaviors, while emphasizing children learn healthy behaviors by watching their parents.

Through a variety of analog and digital platforms, Healthy Choices Catch On supports Michigan’s SNAP-Ed programming by providing key nutrition education messages that are easily reproducible at the local level. Analog platforms include billboards, mobile billboards, internal and external transit signage, truck wraps, soft and retail point-of-sale signage, and print materials. Digital platforms include the Healthy Choices Catch On Click to open a new window website, online video streaming (OTT), SMS/MMS mobile text messaging, and social media platforms, such as Facebook Click to open a new window, Instagram Click to open a new window, YouTube Click to open a new window, and Pinterest Click to open a new window.

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