Columbia youth lead healthy changes at Pine Grove AME Church

Mar 20, 2020 | News, The HYPE Project

A youth group at Pine Grove AME Church are trying to do something about the health of their community by implementing health policies and educating the congregation on the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. Through a partnership between Eat Smart Move More South Carolina and the 7^th District AME Church, nine teens and pre-teens involved in Pine Grove’s Young People Division (YPD) had a chance to participate in The HYPE Project and learn about policy, system, and environmental change and the positive impact they can have on their community.

“I just let them take charge,” says Miranda Blocker, Pine Grove AME Church YPD Director and HYPE Team Adult Advisor. “They created the plan and did all of the work. They really did.”

Two senior members of the HYPE team – Alex Blocker (17) and Sabrina Bowman (18) – took the lead on creating an action plan by researching and developing key focus areas. Healthy eating and active living policies within the church and a church garden were agreed upon by the HYPE team.

“We modeled it after some other plans that we saw and made it off of the needs that we could do,” said Alex. “We tried to be realistic, but also optimistic in how we could do it.”

Once the HYPE team completed the action plan, it was a matter of getting it up the chain of command, so to speak. Ultimately, the elders and the pastor approved the plan and cleared the path to healthy change.

“I’ve been around here for a long time. I do a lot with the children. If the children present something, the church is going to support them 100 percent,” said Miranda.

Healthy Eating and Active Living Policies

The Pine Grove HYPE Team wanted to ensure meals and snacks being served at all church-hosted events would be healthy choices, and only water would be served in the fellowship hall. The group also wanted a 5-minute physical activity break incorporated into Bible Study, Sunday School, church meetings, and the afterschool program. The youth successfully advocated for all these healthy policy changes.

According to the HYPE team, there wasn’t a lot of pushback. “We had people ask for sweet tea, but we stood by our water policy,” said Eric Gamble, Jr. (17).

“The policy itself was easy. Some of it was simple. Like during a meeting, stop right there and do 5 minutes of cardio. That’s easy for them to do,” said Alex. “But, when it comes to just serving water at an event, now you’re interfering with someone’s committee. But it all worked out. Everything in the policy got approved, and I don’t think we had to actually change anything. So, they were pretty open to it.”

All the policies also apply to the afterschool program. Kids are encouraged to go outside and play. The church provides access to jump ropes, balls, and green spaces.

“We look forward to going outside, being ourselves, and going outside to play with each other,” said Elise Gamble (11).

Church Garden

It’s a small church garden, but it’s the start of something big and it’s full of purpose. With the help of a congregation member with experience in gardening, the HYPE team created a garden out of plastic barrels cut to the size of planters, which saved a lot of time with removing grass and cultivating the soil.

“We saw it was something the church could do and that we could rent to other places. It just made sense to be sustainable and grow healthy food. That way you’re not only learning new things but you’re also eating it,” said Alex.

“When we started this, the kids were green. That’s something people don’t do anymore. They don’t have gardens,” said Miranda. “What would’ve taken us 15 minutes to plant seeds, it took us two hours. Our instructor who was teaching us was very meticulous. What was most exciting was when people would come to church and see it grow.”

The garden is in a green space near the entrance to the church, so as congregants arrived, it piqued their interest. According to Miranda, they were very curious about the garden and asked, ‘What are you going to give to us,’ ‘When can we eat some,’ ‘Who is this for,’ or ‘I’m going to pick those greens.’

Again, Miranda let the youth do all the work and take care of the garden. The church hosts an afterschool program, so the kids were responsible for watering the garden twice a week. They even created some creative signs for the plants, like Bushy Broccoli and Cool Collards.

“The kids enjoy it. The kids are always ready to mess in the garden and go outside and play. The grown-ups, they enjoy it too. They like that their kids are liking to go outside, are moving more, and not staying inside playing games and being in front of a screen,” said Eric.

The Future

The Pine Grove HYPE Team plans to continue their garden with the next planting in Spring 2020. They’ll plant a variety of vegetables – tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, etc. They eventually want to increase the amount of food they produce and give it to the senior members of their church and ultimately, to the community.

As far as physical activity goes, they’re planning on building a basketball court that can be used for other youth activities like dodgeball or kickball. They’re also planning on creating a walking path in the adjacent parking lot.

“I think all of the outside field activities can be for the community. If they come consistently, the parents might see there’s a church and could be interested in attending,” said Alex.

The HYPE Project has taught youth the importance of being involved in their community and helping others. It’s also taught them some personal lessons. When they first heard about The HYPE Project, they weren’t sure what they were getting themselves into. They said they never intentionally thought about eating healthy, but now they do.

When asked what they think about The HYPE Project after creating an action plan, working with leadership, and implementing the changes, they all agreed that it has been a positive experience.

“It’s great. I’m not just saying it because they gave us money. That’s also good. But everything we’ve talked about as far as helping the kids, helping the adults. It’s definitely something that more communities need. I think we all love it. The kids love it,” said Eric.

Elise said, “I wouldn’t want to change it because everyone’s working together to make it happen.”

“I think it’s a big impact. When we first thought about it, we really didn’t know what it was,” said Amari Rogers (16). “It really helped us grow. It helped me focus more on what I eat and making healthy choices.”

Alex said, “I had to talk to people to get the HYPE Project passed and working to create a policy. It might not be the same in terms of politics, but the process of creating it was still the same. That definitely helped me in other areas, and then again, just the people skills, the social skills in working with Eric on creating the video and talking to everyone else. So, everything kind of went hand in hand preparing me for other things.”

Carter to Speak on The HYPE Project at National Conference

Jan 30, 2020 | News, The HYPE Project

Youth engagement is more than just a buzzword. It’s a movement happening across the United States, and Eat Smart Move More South Carolina (ESMMSC) is in the thick of it. The Healthy Young People Empowerment (HYPE) Project, a program at ESMMSC, has been gaining attention since its inception in 2012. From its beginnings in Fairfield, Pickens, and Richland counties to nationwide trainings for the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service and the National 4-H Club, more and more organizations are learning about the policy, system, and environmental change (PSE) process and engaging youth.

National and international attendees of the National Youth At Risk Conference will have an opportunity to learn about The HYPE Project, March 8-11 in Savannah. More specifically, attendees will hear from Youth Engagement Manager Trimease K. Carter as she presents during a breakout session on March 11 at 11:15 am. During her presentation, Engaging Youth Advocates Through The Healthy Young People Empowerment (HYPE) Project, Carter will make the case for engaging youth, especially youth of color, as agents for change. The presentation will also demonstrate how The HYPE Project model has been effective at engaging youth advocates around obesity prevention projects.

“This is a great opportunity to put The HYPE Project in front of schools and organizations that may be interested in this type of model. It can be incorporated into any school, program, or learning environment because it teaches youth the right way to advocate for issues close to their hearts,” said Carter. “While our curriculum focuses on healthy eating and active living, anyone can take this model and customize it to fit their youth engagement and youth advocate needs.”

The National Youth At Risk conference, hosted by Georgia Southern University, draws more than 1,200 national and international participants. The conference trains adults who serve youth to create safe, healthy, caring, and intellectually empowering educational environments that foster the well-being of all children and adolescents. Participants learn about current research-based educational programs and strategies, which empower young people to overcome at-risk conditions that may threaten their safety, health, emotional needs, and academic achievement.

To learn more about The HYPE Project, visit our Youth Engagement page. To learn more about the Youth At Risk Conference, visit https://academics.georgiasouthern.edu/ce/conferences/nationalyouthatrisk/.

The HYPE Project is expanding into the 7th District AME Church

Feb 18, 2019 | News, The HYPE Project

Eat Smart Move More South Carolina (ESMMSC) is partnering with the 7th Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church to teach teens about the Healthy Young People Empowerment (HYPE) Project and to help guide them through a public health project that focuses on healthy eating and/or active living in their churches or communities. Up to ten HYPE teams from the AME’s Young People’s Division (YPD) programs around the state will be selected to receive up to $1,000 each to implement their project.

“Providing our youth with opportunities to form leadership skills and to then use those skills throughout life to better their church and communities is what our YPD is all about,” said Dr. Ila McFadden, YPD Director at the 7th Episcopal District of the AME Church. “The HYPE Project will influence our youth to become leaders in public health and to consider health equity as being just as important as all other inequities in life.”

Currently, African-Americans experience disparities in access to healthy and affordable foods and safe places for physical activity, which are key factors in reducing obesity. To help rectify such disparities, selected HYPE teams will help their churches and communities by completing projects, such as community gardens, advocating for healthy eating and/or active living policies with their church, disability and inclusion for physical activity spaces, and healthy concessions/vending.

“The faith community has a long history of meeting the needs of their congregations and local communities, and this is especially true for African-American churches,” said Trimease K. Carter, Manager of Youth Engagement at ESMMSC. “This means the AME church will have an even larger impact on health equity and youth development.”

The 7th District covers all of South Carolina with close to 675 churches and 556 YDP organizations. The YPD program reaches more than 6,600 youth in South Carolina. Their focus it to provide meaningful youth training programs and opportunities for leadership experience in all areas of church life, as well as to advocate for the integrity of childhood and the dignity of all children and youth in the religious, civic, and political structure.

“Our partnership with the AME Church seems like a natural fit because we both have missions that address increasing opportunities for those in need in our communities. We’re looking forward to working with these youth and forging a great partnership with the 7th Episcopal District of the AME Church,” said Carter.

Once the HYPE teams are selected, ESMMSC will provide the HYPE curriculum training at the YPD Retreat on March 8 in Columbia. Afterwards, the teams will return home and begin the process of choosing their project, working with church and community leaders, and implementing their plans.

For more information about the AME partnership, visit our youth engagement page.

The HYPE Project, partnerships reach national level at 4-H conference

Nov 20, 2018 | News, The HYPE Project

Many organizations across the United States view youth engagement as an important tool for advancing social change, developing youth skills, and teaching youth to become grassroots advocates. The HYPE Project caught the attention of the National 4-H Council and was incorporated into their annual conference in Chevy Chase, Maryland this year.

Eat Smart Move More South Carolina’s (ESMMSC) Trimease Carter and Kelsey Allen traveled to the Walmart 4-H Healthy Habits training on November 1-3 to teach youth and adults the first two phases of the HYPE Project curriculum. More than 120 4-H youth and adult leaders from 34 states and US territories learned about health disparities, community access, and policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change.

According to JoAnne Leatherman, Program Director of Foundations and Healthy Living at the National 4-H Council, they wanted to partner with ESMMSC after attending the 2017 HYPE Project training in Kansas City, Missouri. “ESMMSC’s youth-adult partnerships work to change community health aligned with 4-H’s mission, but 4-H has been focused on the change within the individual rather than PSE change. The HYPE Project curriculum brought in a new element while reinforcing youth-adult partnerships.”

4-H youth and their adult leaders spent two days learning about healthy eating, active living, and the PSE change process. In the Think Phase, they were engaged in the critical thinking process to think beyond the individual level and consider the impacts of community and environmental influences on health. In the Learn Phase, they learned what it means to be a champion for change, how to work with the media, and how to plan a HYPE project.

“When I don’t see teens on their phones, I know we have been successful. This training was lively, engaging, and impactful,” said Leatherman.

Many attendees indicated they plan to use the information they learned by incorporating it into their current programming, discussing community health issues, and implementing PSE projects. Based on conversations and evaluations, youth are interested in PSE changes like creating community gardens.

“I’m looking forward to an ongoing partnership with the National 4-H Council. The opportunities associated with this group will be beneficial to both of our organizations,” said Trimease Carter, Youth Engagement Manager at ESMMSC.

Carter is planning to return to Chevy Chase, Maryland in February at the 4-H National Conference to share additional information on the HYPE Project and policy, systems, and environmental changes.

To learn more about The HYPE Project, visit www.esmmsc.org.