Though some might say kids don’t enjoy healthy food, a new federal grant given to Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnership aims to challenge that assumption.
In a press conference held Wednesday at University City High School, located at 3600 Filbert St., members of the Netter Center announced a three-year $900,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and the Office of Minority Health to fund Growing Together, a new nutrition-focused internship program.
Growing Together, which will build upon the Netter Center’s Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative, will provide paid internships to high school students to work in school gardens, lead cooking workshops and attend national conferences regarding urban farming. Sayre, University City, School of the Future and West Philadelphia High Schools are all involved in the program.
Among the speakers at the press conference was Pennsylvania Congressman Chaka Fattah, who worked to award the grant.
“What this grant is going to make possible is so important to our community ... This grant was focused on a critical issue, which is making sure young people are exposed to and have access to quality food, because we know that nutrition is the key to good health,” Fattah said.
“I think there’s been a perception that youth don’t like healthy food, and that’s been used as an excuse sometimes to not sell it,” AUNI Founder and Executive Director Danny Gerber said.
“I think our program is demonstrating that youth really do like healthy food, and parents really want to hear about that,” Gerber added.
Laquanda Dobson, a Growing Together intern and recent graduate of University City High School, has been working with AUNI since 9th grade.
“My first supervisor was holding nutrition lessons and asked if I was interested. So I came by and volunteered, and ever since then I’ve been working here,” Dobson said.
Dobson, who was accepted to Johnson & Wales University to study culinary nutrition, has already spoken at nutrition conferences around the country.
“I’ve been to Detroit two times, Arizona two times, California two times and other places — I forget where sometimes,” said Dobson.
