Hefty USDA grant pushes Metro Detroit schools to become innovative with healthy initiatives
(CBS DETROIT) - Improving nutrition is the goal of one Metro Detroit school district. After a hefty grant, the ball is rolling with Lincoln-King High School in Detroit pushing healthy plate options.
Underserved communities often lack access to healthy meals. It's a reality across America. A U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, which is part of a partnership with Action For Healthy Kids, is boosting schools' opportunities to make sure students are introduced to good but healthy foods.
"Many of our students, they don't understand the importance of a healthy meal or the importance of nutrition," said Michael Newton, a chef at Lincoln-King High School.
Pushing healthy meals is what schools across the U.S. are getting a boost at. Locally, Cornerstone Education Group (CEG) received $300,000 for the USDA's Healthy Meals initiative.
The goal is to help schools with supplies or develop new meal plans and or programs. At Lincoln-King High, the culinary lab feeds all students, and it's already introducing many to new flavors and cooking styles.
"They will eat the foods if we create something that tastes good smells good and looks good it's not just basic," said Elijah Richardson, CEG Network Athletic Fitness director.
Performance and food can go hand in hand. School leaders connect better eating habits to better performance. Those habits can positively affect the community as they can transfer home.
"It'll benefit their child but the family as well because they'll have the opportunity to transfer what they learn here into the home," Newton said.
Recently hiring a chef, the school hopes to show students that fruits and other nutritional choices like yogurt can be tasteful.
"When you have blueberries on a plate a lot of students wouldn't touch it, but now it's in parfait form. Students are touching it," Richardson said.