Mission/Goals

Mission

To improve the health status of individuals and families with limited resources and to foster their self-sufficiency by providing sound and consistent nutrition education and by promoting awareness of food security issues in South Dakota.

Goals

• Disseminate consistent food and nutrition information to schools, families, and communities in low-income settings
• Coordinate nutrition education to improve the nutritional status of South Dakotans with limited resources

The United States Department of Agriculture supports networks to:

• implement nutrition education for food stamp eligible adults and children
  
• build on existing efforts
  
• develop public-private partnerships
  
• use social marketing

The networks would be the catalyst to integrate nutrition education messages across the food assistance programs and public-private programs.  This network process would:

• maximize public and private resources
  
• indentify specific client needs and relevant ways to address these needs
  
• recruit and leverage community organizations to deliver appropriate messages

The importance of nutrition education

Researchers have found that poor dietary habits and physical inactivity are the second leading causes of death in 2000.
Well-designed, behaviorally-driven interventions are effective at improving diets and nutrition-related behaviors. (Contento, 1995).
Nutrition education is a key strategy for behavior change that should lead to improved health.

Complications of limited income

People with low income suffer higher rates of diet-related and physical inactivity-related health problems, as well as serious chronic diseases. 

Reasons include:

• having less buying power for healthier foods
• having limited access to food assistance programs
• having little time for cooking and exercise
• living in communities where access to full-service, reasonably priced supermarkets or safe recreational areas is limited
• working in jobs where healthier foods and time for physical activity are less available
• being influenced by commercial advertising and marketing practices that compete and with healthful eating active living

Working towards the future

• Recognize the importance of nutrition education and the need to develop new strategies as food products, lifestyles and eating habits change.

• Focus on the creation of innovative partnerships and the development of new strategies to reach food stamp eligible audiences with consistent, consumer-based nutrition education messages reinforced with multiple interactive channels. 

• Tale advantage of the layered structure of local, State, and Federal government, together with non-profit and business groups, to administer and deliver quality programs.

• Provide statewide leadership, foster interagency collaborations, and support local service capacity.  

This website is created by the SD Nutrition Network with support from the U. S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service.