$4.5M grant to support OU partnership's fight against child obesity

The Department of Psychology at Oakland University's Riverview Institute in Detroit and seven partner organizations have received a five-year, $4.5 million grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Childhood Obesity Prevention Program to establish the Child Health Incubator Research Project (CHIRP). Participating institutions will collaborate in efforts to challenge food myths and social and economic realities that undermine the health and well-being of young children in Detroit.

Comprised of OU, the Building Movement Project, the Catherine Ferguson Academy, Creative Community Pathways, the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, the East Michigan Environmental Action Council, Feedom Freedom Growers and People's Kitchen Detroit, this collaboration will create a vibrant learning community with innovative programming rooted in a holistic, justice-centered approach to eliminating childhood obesity.

Work will draw on members' expertise in diverse areas such as environmental and food justice; food security and sovereignty; community development and self-determination; family and child development and achievement; nutrition and healthy, child-friendly food preparation; and critical media literacy and production.

"Typical strategies to address childhood obesity presume access to certain resources and information, that standardized interventions will be effective and that health can be defined by standardized measures without regard to culture, economic or social circumstances," said Principal Investigator and Project Director Kerry Vachta of Oakland University.

"In Detroit, we know otherwise. We know our children don't always have access to what some communities may take for granted and that parents don't always have the same options. But we also know there are resources here – from urban farms that provide affordable access to fresh organic produce to a plethora of child-centered institutions and extensive community and family support networks."

Lottie Spady, associate director of East Michigan Environmental Action Council, said, "We have so many pressures and so many demands that it's important to learn how to integrate this information into our day-to-day lives. Somehow we've been convinced that maintaining that pace and our other obligations is more important than our health."

Spady added, "We need to challenge those notions about what our priorities should be, about what we eat and how we live." Her organization will offer programming to help young people develop critical media literacy to understand the messages we get about food from advertisers for example. Participants will also learn how to make their own media, telling healthier food stories of Detroit.

Angela Newsom, project director for People's Kitchen Detroit, added that once that information is available, "We can provide healthful food for our children and families in no more time than it takes to pick up fast food – and often at lower cost." Newsom is a local chef who will help Detroit parents develop the knowledge and skills to create healthy, child-friendly daily meals.

For more information about the program, contact Kerry Vachta at vachta@oakland.edu or Lottie Spady at lottie@emeac.org.