Building resilence in low-income elementary children one recipe at a time

Background/Purpose: This after-school program is located in Kent County, Michigan. Kent has a child food insecurity rate of 18.6% which equates to 29,580 children who live with the daily stress of an unreliable food environment. This persistent and uncontrollable experience during critical developmental periods can lead to long-term health and behavioral issues. The Kick and Cook program intervention was based on the social constructs of role modeling, family support, cultural relevance, return demonstration, and self-efficacy. 

Methods/Approach: Multi-center afterschool programs were used for this project. Sixty low-income, racially diverse fourth and fifth graders took part in a six–week after school physical activity and cooking class. The class met for 90 minutes two times per week. All of the participants were sent home with the recipe of the day, and the raw ingredients so they could reproduce the food item at home with their families. Reflective journaling, observation, and pre and post self-efficacy surveys were used as program evaluation methods. 

Findings: Individual observational surveys were completed weekly on each participant. All participants showed gains in following directions, team behavior, and skill development. In the pre-program survey, many students were unsure of their skills in the kitchen. In the post survey 100% of the participants ranked themselves at the highest level in all aspects of food preparation.

Implications: Promoting food preparation mastery in this population can be seen as a protective force that provides skills to fight food insecurity in their immediate family and builds resilience to combat future adversities.