Healthy Kids Healthy Communities

This is a newsletter of the HKHC Curry County, a NMDOH initiative, which is a network of community partners working together to reduce obesity by creating healthy eating and active living opportunities for all Curry County residents.

This is a newsletter of the HKHC Grant County, a NMDOH initiative, which is a network of community partners working together to reduce obesity by creating healthy eating and active living opportunities for all Grant County residents.

This is a newsletter of the HKHC Guadalupe County, a NMDOH initiative, which is a network of community partners working together to reduce obesity by creating healthy eating and active living opportunities for all Guadalupe County residents.

This is a newsletter of the HKHC Chavez County, a NMDOH initiative, which is a network of community partners working together to reduce obesity by creating healthy eating and active living opportunities for all Chavez County residents.

This is a newsletter of the HKHC Cibola County, a NMDOH initiative, which is a network of community partners working together to reduce obesity by creating healthy eating and active living opportunities for all Cibola County residents.

This newsletter provides a wealth of information about the Healthy Kids Healthy Communities program and related topics including healthy living tips, recent updates, community improvements, education system news, and more.

Healthy Kids Healthy Communities Reach information on Childhood Obesity

The information and numbers in this document represent the 2016-17 school year and only include those elementary schools that have established healthy eating practices on an ongoing and regular basis.

This is a fact sheet about childhood obesity in the State of New Mexico.

Cibola County has figured out what a small, rural community needs to do to develop a healthy environment for children and families: work together and share resources. For the Healthy Kids Healthy Cibola County Initiative, people who are focused on economic development and public health have come together to make it easier for residents to choose healthy foods and be active.

In Clovis, more than half of the elementary-school students participated in a challenge to improve their nutrition and be more active. Schools are developing edible gardens. Eleven of twelve elementary schools have salad bars, and all twelve have school yards that are open for community use outside of school hours.

Katrina Velasquez is busy racking up miles. The first-grader is her family’s motivator too, pushing her parents to walk with her on their five-acre property a mile outside of Santa Rosa.

In Lake Arthur, an isolated rural town of about 400 people in southeastern New Mexico, residents have to drive 25 miles to the nearest grocery store. Fresh produce is a rare commodity.

Carol Burnett was attending a birthday party when a mother told her about her son’s daily salad report. When she comes home from work, he is so excited to tell her which kind of Burnett’s pre-packaged salads he ate at his elementary school that day.

The rural, tribal community of Mescalero envisions multiple generations using a walking trail along the Tularosa Creek, where there will be designated fishing areas, natural playscapes for children and shady oases for adults.

One day the cafeteria floor underneath the salad bar at Pecos Elementary School was littered with vegetables. Principal Barbara Ryan warned students that she would remove the salad bar if they didn’t keep it clean.

One young mother in San Ildefonso Pueblo knew she had to do something to prevent her sons from becoming obese. She watched as Healthy Kids Healthy San Ildefonso posted trail signs and cleaned up the dirt path near her home. When the trail was ready, she began walking on it each evening with her family.

Tom Hyden, who lives south of Socorro on a farm near San Antonio, calls himself the Tom Sawyer of the food-system movement in Socorro. “I try to convince other people how much fun it is,” Hyden said with a chuckle, referring to how the infamous character in Mark Twain’s book charms people into doing his chores.

On the northwestern edge of New Mexico, Zuni Pueblo is the largest of the state’s 19 pueblos with nearly 10,000 residents. Most people live within the main village and the nearby community of Blackrock. Zuni is well-known for its rich cultural, linguistic and artistic heritage. However, because of its geographic isolation, Zuni Pueblo has faced challenges in ensuring residents access to diverse activities and healthy food options.