001[Music] both school district is located in central Phoenix in a very high needs area roughly between the Phoenix Zoo and the sky over airport over 95% of our kids receive free reduced lunch we have the umhum homeless shelter in our area we also have a significant population of African and other refugees from other countries poverty is a big issue for our district and overcoming the effects of poverty is one of the main driving forces of what we're doing for our community and the Baals promise neighborhood is all built on the premise that what happens outside the school walls is as important as what happens inside the school walls so the false promise neighborhood is an effort to bring together through collective action to bring nonprofits and charities that have resources to the needs of a
002community and by supporting a community we're supporting the school's hunger and food insecurity is an important aspect of kids lives if they come to school hungry then it's very difficult for them to concentrate and do well in school so it starts with the beginning of the day when we have a healthy breakfast it goes throughout the day with the kinds of opportunities we give to kids they have a healthy lunch they have a healthy snack in the afternoon kids get out in the afternoon many of our students go to the Boys and Girls Club in the Balts community and we have a healthy environment there also so kids will have a healthy environment throughout the day the benefits to breakfast in the classroom for our students are its helps them in the morning get a
003little bit of nourishment in them so that they can be ready to learn many of them don't take the opportunity to eat at home so this is their first meal of the day the kids do come in ready and they're looking for that they want to know what are we having for breakfast today I know that this might be the only meal that they may get having it in the classroom everyone eat so there's three items a lot of them aren't aren't exposed to a lot of the things that like maybe bagels maybe cream cheese maybe and they'll try it they'll try some of the fruits that a lot of kinder they don't know what a pear is so it's funny when the first time eating a pear you'll hear whoo I like this and
004some I don't like it the ffvp which is known also as a 5-foot vegetable program is the USDA program it does provide the students with fresh food or vegetable either after breakfast or after lunch they always remind us what is it what is it so very excited very very excited about this program we also offer on a daily basis we have a salad bar when we try to provide every day no unique items on that we kids will like on all students amazingly enough they also don't do have themself as I said about another project that value this on United Way has been working with Brunson Lee elementary school is a weekend hunger backpack where it's got recipes and food and they're working and testing the curriculum and again this is to help the whole
005family engage in healthy eating but also having adequate food this is a wonderful model to look at how do we hardwired if you will healthy eating and healthy living for all of your students my keys actually they like getting their bags every week but I don't your kids complain that they didn't eat all weekend which is game last year I studied cooking classes for our children to students on also the families trying to educate them about healthy habits unhealthy cooking so it's time we had like twenty to thirty parents on students coming to new to our cooking classes once a year we have what we call a future chef contest we asked students to come up with some unique recipes with selected recipes listen to two sadiq so for consideration for a national we're not
006so to be in the Sodexo a recipe book so we do this annual 1 1 s parent distribution program when the parents come in they go through a section where they're given information that will help them get educated on on how to live better and then i'm gonna go and pick up a bag of food so when we take a look at the garden it's it's really twofold we have integrating science with instruction during the normal day and then also we have a parent component in the afternoon and it really is centered around the idea that we live in a food desert and they learn about how fruits and vegetables grow and the health benefits of them but also that that they can be grown right in their backyard we're so pleased with our relationship
007with the discovery triangle and the Fresh Express The Fresh Express is a retrofitted city bus that has been turned into a mobile grocery store it has fresh produce available once per week and then we can have our parents as they drop their kids off also visit the mobile Fresh Express Balt School District is is located in a food desert which means that close by we don't have grocery stores with good fresh produce available to them many times when people are in poverty they tend to either eat fast foods or convenience store foods and they don't necessarily eat the most healthy things and so we want to make those options available to families so they can provide more home-cooked fresh meals for their families which we believe contributes to a healthier environment for our kids and
008for our families hopefully through the course of the day the kids that go to balls are going to come out of our system healthier and happier and more prepared for school and for life [Music]