Flintside, 2/23
Rec-Connect™ empowers Detroit high school student leaders to foster physical activity among peers
By Estelle Slootmaker 

Wayne State University's (WSU) Detroit Healthy Youth Initiative has been working in the Detroit Public Schools Community District for over a decade, providing nutrition education and facilitating student-led policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change work to increase healthy eating and healthy food access across Detroit. "Our primary focus has always been nutrition, healthy food access, and nutrition education," says Dr. Jeanne Barcelona, WSU assistant professor of community health. "Over the last two and a half years, our student leadership teams started voicing concern about the need for physical activity." Like past Detroit Healthy Youth Initiative programs, Rec-Connect™ is made possible through MFF Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) funding. MFF is a State Implementing Agency of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services for the education component of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP-Ed is an education program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that teaches people eligible for SNAP how to live healthier lives. MFF offers grants to conduct SNAP-Ed programming throughout the state of Michigan. "The need for physical activity really became evident as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic," Barcelona says. "That's when it was prioritized by the student leaders because everyone was stuck in their homes. There was no access. Everything was shut down. They weren't in school, and they were really feeling like they themselves, as well as their peers, needed some physical activity.” 

https://www.flintside.com/features/rec-connect-detroit.aspx