Brighter Bites NYC
- Location : Brooklyn, NY
- Community Served: Children in Title I schools in NYC
- Focus: Nutrition education
Organization background
Brighter Bites (BB) runs a data-driven, evidence-based program that encourages
healthy eating, cooking, shopping practices and healthy behaviors among children and
families, while increasing access to nutritious foods.
BB is a USDA SNAP-Ed and CDC-approved evidence-based intervention that has served
over 8,600 students and 6,500 families a year by forming strong, collaborative partnerships
with over 17 schools in NYC. They partner with school sites for three consecutive years,
ensuring that healthy habits become deeply rooted across the community.
These comprehensive steps significantly increase fruit and vegetable consumption and
improve students' and families' eating, cooking, and shopping skills.
Project background
BB started their NYC program in 2017 in response to studies that indicated that
39% of children in NYC public schools from kindergarten through 8th grade were
overweight of had obesity. Additionally, because of systemic barriers and
socioeconomic factors, such as food insecurity and limited access to
nutritional foods, the rate of obesity is even higher among some demographic groups.
The three pillars of their program are
- Nutrition education (assisting teachers to integrate nutrition education into their class curriculum)
- Produce giveaways (giving away bags of fruits/vegetables at schools twice a month)
- Fun food experience (culinary demonstrations in schools to promote healthy eating)
GKF contributions to BB
- 2024: Funding for the 'Creating Healthy Communities with Brighter Bites NYC'
project to promote better nutrition outcomes at 17 Title I schools.