We Need More Healthy Food Options in El Monte
Photo by Eric Fischer/Flickr/Creative Commons License
Youth Voices is working with middle school students from three schools in the El Monte City School District: Columbia, Durfee, and Wright. The students, participants in the English Language Development program at their schools, formed teams to explore, investigate, and write about an important issue in their community; all the while they are learning and expanding their knowledge of civic journalism and community engagement. Follow their work on social media by using the hashtag #KCETYV.
Team Name:
Healthy Rangers
Team Members:
Dulce P.
Juan P .
Tommy T.
Thu H.
School
Columbia
Our vision for improvement in our neighborhood is to have more healthy food available for everyone. It is important to take action so people can have more healthy lives with less obesity and diabetes, and we know there's too much junk food available that leads to bad health.
A place where we can begin to create change is at our schools. Many students buy chips and drinks (junk food) before and after school. It would be important to educate students that there are better food choices available.
We plan to advocate for this issue by informing people what could happen if we don't change our eating habits, including the dangers of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. If we can get people on board they will be more likely to make healthier food choices.
Three possible ways that we can take action toward this is:
- Survey people around El Monte for their opinion and suggestions for healthy food choices at local restaurants.
- Interview the mayor of El Monte to share our concern and ask for his suggestions and support around more healthy food options.
- Identify local markets where residents can buy healthy food to prepare at home.
If we all work together El Monte can be a healthy community.
