[Nfbf-l] Fw: Let's Move! Blog Featuring Innovative Websites and Programs

[Carlos J MontasAS]

Let's Move! Blog Featuring Innovative Websites and Programs
----- Original Message ----- 
From: White House Disability Group 
To: carlos.montas at gmail.com 
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011 5:15 PM
Subject: Let's Move! Blog Featuring Innovative Websites and Programs


Check out the below blogs featuring two innovative programs helping people with disabilities stay healthy and gain employment.

  

http://www.letsmove.gov/blog/2011/02/16/cooking-and-shopping-made-easier-and-healthier-for-blind-americans/

Cooking and Shopping Made Easier and Healthier for Blind Americans
Posted by Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President in the White House Office of Public Engagement on February 16, 2011 

In its first year, Let’s Move! taught us to pay attention to what we eat. We’ve learned that choosing a bowl of whole-grain cereal with non-fat milk over cheesy biscuits and bacon is a great way to kick off a healthy, energized day. We’ve realized that many times we are offered portions that are bigger than necessary, and we’ve tested delicious, perfectly-proportioned recipes to make at home. And, with the release of 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans last month, we were reminded that consuming less sodium, fats, added sugars and refined grains is essential to a healthy lifestyle. 

But, for millions of blind or visually impaired Americans, reading the nutrition information and cooking directions printed on the boxes, cans, jars, bottles and bags at the grocery store has been all but impossible—at least it was before the launch of directionsforme last month. 

Directionsforme is an accessible and user friendly website that contains nutritional and product information for over 350,000 foods and appliances. Created by Horizons for the Blind, directionsforme is helping millions of Americans like me to plan healthy menus, cook at home and to pay attention to the foods we consume. A study published in August 2010 by a group of Columbia University professors showed that people who regularly read the nutrition facts labels on the food that they buy have significantly healthier diets and consume less calories, fat, sugar and sodium than those who don’t read the labels. 

Thanks to directionsforme, blind grocery shoppers can now plan their trips by carefully selecting foods and brands whose nutrition information they have read and compared. A busy mom who wants to buy healthy snacks can use the website to find out which brand of peach fruit cups has no added sugar and an aspiring Italian chef can find out the appropriate serving size for his favorite brand of pasta. 

Directionsforme is also helping American families eat healthy meals together at home, another key component of the Let’s Move! initiative. Planning menus and cooking at home is a fun and healthy way to bring the family together. For sighted cooks, using a microwave to steam broccoli or pureeing vegetables in a blender is as easy as a glance at a user’s manual and the push of a button. Directionsforme now makes those time-saving appliances available to visually impaired chefs with accessible package information for thousands of products. 

Let’s Move! has always been committed to including people with disabilities in its healthy lifestyle outreach, whether by cheering on the American athletes at the 2010 Paralympic Games in Vancouver or recognizing the students with disabilities who earned Presidential Active Lifestyle Awards with a special ceremony at the White House. Now, with the accessible nutrition information and appliance instructions on the directionsforme website, blind Americans can more easily pay attention to the food they eat and fully participate in the Let’s Move! call for healthier meals and healthier families.

Green Jobs in the Garden State
http://www.letsmove.gov/blog/2011/02/17/green-jobs-in-the-garden-state/



Posted by Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President in the White House Office of Public Engagement on February 17, 2011
February 9th, 2011 marked the 1-year anniversary of the launch of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative to reduce childhood obesity through encouraging healthier eating habits and regular exercise. Throughout the past year we have seen how seemingly-small modifications can add up to make a big difference in our everyday lives, as well as the lives of those around us. Every day, Americans are donning the hat of community organizer and doing their part to promote positive change in their communities, be it through education, entrepreneurship/job creation, health awareness, or vocational rehabilitation efforts.


One organization in particular is taking on all of the above. The Arthur and Friends Greenhouse Project of New Jersey is helping pave the way for social innovation and entrepreneurship in the disability community.

Through collaborative partnerships with several local organizations, the Kessler Foundation, and the use of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Stimulus Funds, Arthur and Friends’ Greenhouses meld innovation with community integration by training and employing individuals with disabilities and veterans to grow and sell fresh produce in an integrated employment setting. The Arthur and Friends mission is to develop integrated employment opportunities in Agribusiness “including self-employment and entrepreneurship.” And that is precisely what they have been doing since the initial development of their replicable business model in 2008.

Through a series of training programs, the employees learn about specialized agri-business, retail sales, and online business development. The integrated work environment allows the employees with disabilities to become economically self-sufficient and “occupationally marketable” should they ever decide to seek employment with another business organization or start their own. In addition to the myriad of occupational skills gained in the training programs, Arthur and Friends offers its associates with disabilities an opportunity to gain fuller access and participation in their communities in a sustainable way.

All of the produce grown in the greenhouses is sold to local restaurants, schools, and the surrounding communities, affording them greater access to nutritious food choices that may not otherwise be available to them. In doing so, Arthur and Friends are doing their part to reduce the number of “food deserts” in their communities! (Food deserts are areas in industrialized countries with limited access to fresh, healthy food.) Let’s Move!, in partnership with the USDA, has affirmed a strong commitment to reducing the number of food deserts in America in an effort to curb childhood obesity and make healthy food choices more accessible to all Americans. The Greenhouse Project is answering that call to action and has been making great strides to impact their community for the better. The Arthur and Friends Greenhouse Project is a shining example of innovative sustainability being a viable and cost-efficient option for food production locally.

The inspiration derived from their innovative union of entrepreneurship, community integration, and hope stretch far past the boundaries of state lines. Arthur and Friends’ grassroots community building efforts serve to reinforce the Obama Administration’s emphasis on positive change starting at the local level. The Greenhouse Project is winning the future—and the hearts and minds (and well-being) of Americans everywhere along the way.






The White House · 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW · Washington DC 20500 · 202-456-1111