Community Education & Outreach

The Community Education and Outreach Committee works with Oregon community leaders to motivate and empower young girls, pregnant mothers, parents and their children to choose balanced whole-food nutrition for themselves, their families and their communities. The Committee works solely through a core partner network, using existing infrastructure and connections to reach our target populations.

Its long term goal is to (re) introduce a whole-foods-based, hands-on, nutrition/culinary science experience in the curricula of Oregon K-12 schools, with concurrent engagement of parents/families and with sufficient flexibility to be adaptable nationally.

Guiding principles:

  • Honor community needs within a public health context
  • Capitalize on community talent
  • Engage parents, families
  • Respect diversity in language and culture

Current Projects:

  • Increase awareness among the Oregon community of the importance of whole-foods nutrition prior to conception and during the first 1000 days of life
  • Initiate a Moore Institute Resource Center using multimedia platforms, speakers' bureau (tapping OHSU, academic partners, and community partners) to ensure broad accessibility
  • Develop a Roadmap guiding the design of a school-based intervention program; prioritize and initiate elements within each of three phases: engagement, design, and implementation

Current Partners: (Please contact us to discuss partnership opportunities.)

  • Food Corps
    The committee is partnering with FoodCorps to integrate DOHaD nutrition curriculum with all Food Corps sites nation-wide and provide training and mentoring to service members.
  • Oregon AHEC
    Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) is a federally funded program which created and distributes the “In a Box” educational tools. The committee is collaborating with AHEC in development of a “Nutrition In a Box” curriculum. 
  • National College of Natural Medicine
    The committee has a strong partnership with the National College of Natural Medicine including access to their Ending Childhood Obesity project, a successful 12-week program providing nutrition education for families.
  • Heart’s Kitchen
    A whole foods cookbook containing DOHaD science will be distributed in cooking class contexts for school-based parents and in clinic-based settings. 
  • Connie Evers, MS, R.D.
    Connie Evers’ “Teaching Nutrition to Children” curricular materials and a forthcoming training webinar on use of materials will be used to meet committee goals.
  • Let's Get Healthy! is an OHSU education and research program that travels around the state to help the public learn about their health.