The Community that I belong to is a program called ‘NSTEP, which I contribute to as a volunteer program facilitator. ‘NSTEP’s mission is to promote nutrition and health to young children in schools. It is a very simple concept of encouraging the use of the Canada’s food guide and physical activity to enrich the lives of children.
My role of the volunteers is to deliver educational lessons in an interactive experiential learning model that treats each school as an educational and holistic community. It is not enough to teach the students health class, it is equally important to reinforce these lessons on a daily basis in class, with snacks and at lunch. ‘NSTEP also takes opportunities to inform parent about the program and the benefits of encouraging healthy eating and fitness habits on their children’s ability to learn and succeed in life. This program is a great example of a community because it requires the cooperation of program facilitators and reinforcement of lessons by the teachers.
I suggest that this organization although aimed at improving the nutrition of the students that it serves, has a greater power. As a result of the communities that the program targets, which are low-income communities, it is often the case that the parents of these students have very limited knowledge regarding the importance of eating well or living actively. Even if these parents do receive these messages, it is unlikely that they understand the potential positive impact that implementing behavioral changes could have on their children’s health and ability to learn.
The students are very much a part of this community development process as well because they then act as ambassadors to pass what they have learned to their parents, siblings and friends that are outside of their educational community. The student’s ownership of the program increases the effectiveness of the program beyond the classroom and the organizations mission of developing the healthy lifestyle skills in youth. These students are setting themselves up for their futures to be better learners because they will be able to concentrate better on lessons in high school and beyond. In addition, these students are becoming experts in an area that they are proud to share with their families and friends. The long terms affects will lead to increased confidence in their own abilities and skills that will lead them to contributing further in their communities as leaders.
“The more hands the lighter the load”
Additionally, resources are an area of constant strain on most community-oriented programs. The challenge is that there is so many programs and organizations out there competing for charity and sponsorship dollars that it is difficult on companies and government representatives to decide on which causes to support. The sad reality is that the companies that we have supporting us, are not able to support others, as they too have limited resources available for charitable contributions. These companies and their representatives including the government must make choices about where to lend their support. This lesson translates to us as community leaders also. There is not unlimited time or money that we can give to a community in need. It is necessary to determine where best to utilize the resources that are available and determine, as an empowered group, where the attention is most needed.
In the case of the community of all nonprofit organizations, the ideal resolution would be if we could get everyone together as a community and pool resources and funds. Through the creation of this kind of symbiotic relationship, all similar organizations could create a great community that would be more willing to share creative ideas and efficient use of pooled resources due to better understand of each organizations needs and what strengths each group brings to the table. Currently there is a competitive mentality between organizations, which each group holding their resources and knowledge close to their hearts to avoid sharing their knowledge. If a community like this could develop, the end result would be greater impact on all programs and agencies by conserving man power from sharing established protocols rather then having to make up their own, testing them, and then implementing them all independently.
“A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.”
Henrik Ibsen (Major Norwegian playwright of the late 19th century, 1828-1906)
What a cool community you belong to Dawn! I loved reading about this organizations mission, it's such a neat and needed thing to offer to growing children. Your post reminded me of a quote from a leader of my church, it goes something like this - "...children may not recover from the ignorance of their mothers." I thought of this because your post made it quite clear that there are organizations and communities like NSTEP that are striving to counteract the reality of this saying. If parent's aren't raising their children to be healthy, the odds are they probably won't learn it. I love what NSTEP is doing to prevent and fight this, it's great to think that the kids are learning good habits for themselves and then teaching them to their parents!
ReplyDeleteOne thing that really struck me with you post was when you discuss the similar community groups with competing for attention,resources and competition. It makes sense that they would do this and ideally "shouldn't we all get along?". We should, but we don't. With the audience that your community specifically caters to, I would agree that collaboration of resources and efforts would be more beneficial than competition. Kids need to have consistent messaging in order to reinforce the lessons you provide. I feel like this is how, despite the implementation of programs like NSTEP, the message gets lots when the kids leave the classroom. I think one direction to look into might be to find effective tools to get these messages to consistently travel through the classroom and into the outside community. It'll be a major uphill battle, especially with the rising obesity epidemic, but it's a battle worth fighting for sure! Good post Dawn!
ReplyDeleteAnother great blog Dawn! One thing that you brought up that I found very interesting was “As a result of the communities that the program targets, which are low-income communities, it is often the case that the parents of these students have very limited knowledge regarding the importance of eating well or living actively. Even if these parents do receive these messages, it is unlikely that they understand the potential positive impact that implementing behavioral changes could have on their children’s health and ability to learn.” I too believe that understanding benefits in Health Promotion is undervalued and should be emphasized, not dismissed, especially since this is a growing trend worldwide. Too many people seem to miss the bigger picture and focus on the smaller less important aspects.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great community to belong to Dawn! It's very inspireing to see how you are making a differance in young kids lives. Your post was pretty long but i was interested the entire time; i wanted to keep reading and reading. Great work Dawn, I can tell your very passionate about promoting a healthier lifestyle to the next generation!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog Dawn! The community that you belong to sounds super cool! I'll have to look into it and learn more!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how you discussed pooling of resources and knowledge to help communities develop to their fullest potential. It is so important that members from the community and other communities band together to help with such great causes!