Nutrition educators at the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) have been engaging low-income youth in youth-led participatory action research (YPAR) for several years. During COVID-19, these educators transitioned from in-person to online YPAR programming. Delivering the YPAR program online presented challenges but also fostered new strategies and provided benefits. This study assesses the challenges, strategies and benefits of online YPAR programming, and it examines future program implications from the perspectives of both nutrition educators and youth. Qualitative interviews were conducted via Zoom with eight nutrition educators who attempted to implement YPAR programming during the 2020–2021 school year. We used a retrospective Qualtrics survey to gain information from 54 youth participants. We found that online facilitation encouraged the innovative use of technology, which was especially important because it allowed teams to connect with each other during tumultuous times. This online format made meetings easier in terms of planning, documentation and logistics. However, the online format presented particular challenges, such as coping with internet and technology difficulties and trying to sustain authentic engagement among participants without in-person interactions. Consequently, 50% of nutrition educators and 45% of youth respondents said they preferred a mix of in-person and online meetings for future YPAR programming.

This publication stresses the importance of all family members working together to develop a plan of action in case of disaster. It also urges families to practice the plan to insure all members are able to carry it out.

Lesson 3. Make It Crunchy: Go for Whole Grains! This after-school curriculum is a great setting to promote a healthy lifestyle with good foods and physical activity, helping kids build health skills that will last a lifetime.

UC ANR Cooperative Extension (UCCE) conducted six focus groups in 2013 with CalFresh-eligible adults to determine how to improve the existing evaluation method for the Plan, Shop, Save, Cook nutrition education classes. Focus group participants (n = 54) cited many behavior changes that are captured by the existing method. During the focus groups, changes in cooking practices and types of food purchased emerged as two domains that are not currently captured. A small pilot study conducted on 22 of the 54 focus group participants suggests that using a telephone interview to survey participants is a feasible and practical approach to collect follow-up data on long-term behavior changes. More rigorous follow-up studies may guide the development of policies aimed at increasing diet quality and food security of adult CalFresh participants.

Lesson 1. Let's Make It Clean: Wash Up! This after-school curriculum is a great setting to promote a healthy lifestyle with good foods and physical activity, helping kids build health skills that will last a lifetime.

Lesson 5. Make It Delicious: Plan and Balance! This after-school curriculum is a great setting to promote a healthy lifestyle with good foods and physical activity, helping kids build health skills that will last a lifetime.

Lesson 2. Make It Healthy: Eat Balanced Meals. This after-school curriculum is a great setting to promote a healthy lifestyle with good foods and physical activity, helping kids build health skills that will last a lifetime.

While school meals are often the healthiest option for students, lunch participation remains relatively low. Few approaches for increasing participation have leveraged teachers' potential social influence. We determined if a teacher intervention about the benefits of school lunch could improve teachers' perceptions of, and participation in, school lunch, and encouragement of students to eat school lunch. This repeated cross-sectional study included teacher/student survey administration in spring of 2016 and 2018 in 19 public secondary schools (9 intervention, 10 comparison) educating students of ages ≈ 11-18. Intervention teachers received monthly newsletters; lunch taste tests; and a promotional video and website. Mixed effects models with a random effect for school showed the proportion of teachers that reported eating with students increased in intervention schools relative to control schools (difference-in-change: 7.6%; 95% CI: 3.578%, 14.861%), as did student agreement that adults at their schools encouraged them to eat school lunch (difference-in-change: 0.15 on a 5-point scale; 95% CI: 0.061, 0.244). There were no between-group differences in teachers' perceptions of school meals or teachers' lunch participation. These findings suggest that teachers' perceptions of school meals do not necessarily need to improve to promote the school lunch program to students. However, to see meaningful change in teacher lunch participation, the taste of school meals likely needs improving.

Lesson 6. Make It Fun: Eat and Share! This after-school curriculum is a great setting to promote a healthy lifestyle with good foods and physical activity, helping kids build health skills that will last a lifetime.

This after-school curriculum is a perfect setting for promoting a healthy lifestyle that includes good foods and plenty of physical activity, helping kids build good health skills that will last a lifetime. The 6-week, hands-on after-school curriculum is designed to give 9- to 12-year-olds a fun introduction to preparing and eating healthy meals. Download all 7 publications: