MetroHealth Engages Local Students to Seek Solutions to Food Insecurity

This past school year, The MetroHealth System School Health Program (SHP) invited students from area high schools to come together in Youth Advisory Councils (YACs) to help develop projects that address food insecurity in their communities. Some of their efforts are receiving national attention.

Over the last few weeks, the YACs from the three schools – Cleveland Metropolitan School District 's Garrett Morgan High School and Lincoln-West High School of Global Studies, and Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District Cleveland Heights High School – unveiled projects to support their neighbors.

On May 16, the students of the Garrett Morgan YAC hosted a resource fair, collecting shelf-stable food and personal care items to put together packages for a nearby homeless shelter.

The students from the YAC at Lincoln-West School of Global Studies organized the planting of apple trees at the Refuge Garden in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood on May 23.

The Cleveland Heights High School YAC hosted a fresh produce school market on May 24 in partnership with the Greater Cleveland Food Bank . The intention is to continue this effort throughout the summer on the fourth Friday of the month, as a fresh produce distribution site serving both students and the community at large.

Cleveland Heights High School students Addie Hart and Dashara Turner were awarded the chance to present their project as part of the National School-Based Health Alliance (NSBHA) Be the Change Youth Training Program at the organization's annual conference in Washington D.C. June 30-July 2. The students will accompany MetroHealth SHP staff, who will be attending the NSBHA professional annual conference.

Dashara will be visiting Washington D.C. for the first time. She said she joined the Cleveland Heights High School YAC because she wanted to make her peers aware of the benefits of the MetroHealth School Health Program and the Heights Wellness Center. It's a subject she feels strongly about given her own experiences with the clinic and its staff as the result of a health issue the clinic helped diagnose.

"I was always down at the clinic because I had a health issue, and I bonded with the nurses," said Dashara, who graduates this spring and plans to study psychology on a pre-med track at the University of Cincinnati. "I always felt that they knew me well and took good care of me. I have always been passionate about wanting to be a surgeon, but spending time with the MetroHealth staff this year inspired me even more."

Kristen Matlack, MPH , Community Health Advocacy Initiative Manager for Institute for H.O.P.E.2?, said the students from all three schools' YACs approached their projects with enthusiasm.

"They chose what they wanted to do, and, with guidance, they saw it through," Kristen said. “There were individuals who stepped up to take on leadership roles. What surprised me was that all three of the YACs chose to focus on their community instead of just their own school population. They always wanted to go bigger. The fact that their work this year has been given this national spotlight says everything about the success of the program.”

At the Cleveland Heights High School fresh produce distribution event, students organized the produce, stacking containers of fresh-cut pineapple and bags of kale in preparation for visitors, who began lining up before the opening time. By the end of the event, the students had distributed 4,000 pounds of food to 282 people from 71 households.

"I wouldn't say I'm surprised about the food insecurity in our community, but I'm disappointed that it doesn't get as much attention as it should," Mikey, another Heights High YAC member, said before doors opened for the event. “I'm proud of the progress we've made from taking this small idea to actually being able to do this event.”

The three projects were funded through two grants totaling nearly $50,000 from the state and national School-Based Health Alliance and Share Our Strength 's No Kid Hungry (NKH) Campaign. The program was a collaboration of the SHP, a program of the Institute for H.O.P.E.2, and the Institute's community outreach to confront social barriers to health, like inadequate access to nutritious food.

Students in grades 9 through 11 were invited to participate in the YACs when the project began last year. To kick off the program, the groups took a joint field trip to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and Food Strong , a nonprofit organization in East Cleveland that focuses on bringing fresh, local food to neighborhoods. Over the course of the school year, the individual YACs met monthly. More than 20 students from the three schools participated consistently throughout the school year.

In addition to providing time for the students to design and execute their food access projects, the monthly YAC meetings included opportunities for them to learn about and provide feedback on the health and wraparound services provided by MetroHealth's SHP. These YACs will help inform the future direction of SHP services, both clinical and social, that can be replicated throughout the district.

Katie Davis Bellamy, MSN, RN, PHNA-BC , Executive Director, Community and Corporate Health, said the hope is to continue the YACs beyond the food insecurity program to provide students with other opportunities to learn about health and wellness and explore ways to help promote those subjects and projects throughout their schools and communities.

"This project is a perfect example of how partnering with the schools allows us to not only offer services and programs to youth and their families, but more importantly we are able to listen to students' ideas," Katie said. "We are then able to work together to implement ideas and projects that are meaningful to the youth and have impact on the community. It is an opportunity to empower youth and elevate their voices and ideas."

Learn more about the MetroHealth School Health Program: https://www.metrohealth.org/school-health-program