Oct. 26, 2006

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DALLAS – On a recent Wednesday at the Oak Cliff branch of the Dallas Public Library, Elisa Reyes prepared to teach 26 Spanish-speakers about the MyPyramid food guide pyramid from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, serving sizes and daily nutritional requirements for good health, she said. Reyes is a nutrition education assistant with the Texas Cooperative Extension's Expanded Nutrition Program.

She also was going to teach them how to make a stir-fry, which everyone in class would sample.

This is one of the 14 sites where Avance-Dallas teaches parenting and child development skills. Avance-Dallas chapter, which was founded in 1996, is part of the statewide program established in 1973 to help limited resource Hispanic families, said Maya Lechowick, program manager. Most, but not all, locations are in urban areas.

From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Wednesday morning during the school year – August to May – these students gather to learn parenting lessons in a language they can understand.

Other Dallas sites are in local elementary schools, thanks to the program's partnership with Dallas Independent School District, she said. In the 10 years since Avance-Dallas, a United Way affiliate, was established, about 5,000 families have participated.

"All classes are taught in Spanish but our parent educators are bilingual," she said.

Lechowick referred to the program as a "two-generational opportunity" because while the adults are learning about parenting and child development, their children are attending early childhood classes at the same facility.

During each class, guest lecturers from other agencies provide information vital to day-to-day living, she said. For example, representatives of Bank of America have told the class about financial literacy; March of Dimes "Comenzando Bien" teaches about prenatal care.

And that's where Extension comes in. For five years or more, Extension's Expanded Nutrition Program has been the source for nutrition information for Avance-Dallas classes, said Tamra McGaughy, the nutrition program agent for Dallas County.

This year the classes have a total of about 400 participants, she said.

"We are the only agency that comes in for ... seven weeks to teach a series of classes," McGaughy said.

Proper nutrition is vital to health, but it can also improve the physical and fiscal health of the community, she said.

"The nutrition education classes we are giving are for a limited-resource audience, and the majority of limited resource audiences are not going to have health insurance, so they are going to have to be going to doctors who are paid by taxpayers," McGaughy said. "If we can increase their knowledge of nutrition education and physical activity so that they are healthier, then it will decrease the costs (of medical care)."

Reyes' weekly nutrition lessons are designed to help the participants learn about menu planning, preparing foods in advance, comparison shopping, the importance of daily exercise and how making even small changes toward a healthier lifestyle can impact the whole family.

"We stress for them to make small changes," said Reyes. "That can make a big difference."

Reyes believes in practicing what she preaches. In her own life, she has put some of those ‘little changes' to work and been pleased at the difference they have made.

"I drink more water and not as much cold drinks (sodas)," she said. "I've also cut back on sweets – I don't eat them like I used to."

Claudia Arango, Avance parent educator and supervisor for the Oak Cliff area, agrees. She doesn't teach the nutrition part of the classes, but she does learn from them. At home, she and her family watch their portions now, she said, and eat more fruits and fewer junk foods.

Some of the parents in the class also discussed the results in their own families.

Socorro Carmen Santillan said the quick, nutritious recipes she is learning to cook, along with limiting sugar and salt intake, mean her family is benefitting from the lessons she is learning. Not only that, but her children are growing up eating fruits, vegetables and grains, the way she did when she was a child in Peru.

Would she recommend the classes to other women?

"Absolutely, yes," she said.

But Lourdes Nevaras might have the most amazing testimonial of all. Speaking through an interpreter, she announced that, thanks to this program, "My child loves vegetables."

For more information on Avance-Dallas, visit the Web at http://www.avance-dallas.org/ . For more information on the Expanded Nutrition Program, visit Extension's Family and Consumer Sciences Web site at http://fcs.tamu.edu and click on the link to "Food and Nutrition."