Office of Outreach & Engagement

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Community Partner(s): This past year we collaborated with 70 community partners, including early care and education groups (n=20), government agencies (n=10), schools ( n=7), universities (n=7), parks and recreation centers (n=7), food stores (n=5), foundations (n=5), agricultural organizations (n=3), hospitals (n=2), food banks and mobile pantries (n=1), public health organizations (n=1), faith based (n=1), and city and regional planning groups (n=1).

Demographics: SNAP eligible individuals throughout CT

School or College: Neag School of Education

Campus Affiliation: UConn Storrs

Bristol, East Hartford, Groton, Hartford, Manchester, Middletown, New London, Vernon, Waterbury

Program Description

During the FY 22 – 24 USDA SNAP-Ed funding cycle, Husky Nutrition (UConn Health) and Husky Sport (UConn Storrs) have integrated into one Husky Nutrition and Sport. Staff build and implement a unified approach to address state-level SNAP-Ed goals and objectives while leveraging the strengths and expertise of each agency and honoring Husky Nutrition and Sport’s core values: 

Relevancy – engagement across the lifespan with both nutritional and physical activity education through programs designed based on the population’s specific needs. 

Relationships – reciprocal campus-community partnerships built on respect and “right” relationships, where one treats individuals as equal authorities in their own lives. In doing so, we challenge inequitable individual behaviors and social structures. 

Representation – mentoring and developing a corps of racially and socio-economically diverse college students as the next generation of engaged citizens. 

From 2022-2024, Husky Nutrition and Sport plans to address priorities identified in Connecticut’s SNAP-Ed Needs Assessment (2021) by: 

• Implementing and enhancing multi-level interventions as part of campus-community partnerships with early care and education centers, Hartford’s Wish 
• Schools, food retailers, and farmers market Increasing SNAP-Ed for adult caregivers of preschool and school-age children. 
• Increasing direct education focused on middle and high school students, beginning in Northeast Hartford. 
• Exploring opportunities to better reach children in New London and Waterbury, two underserved Group 1 towns 
• Increasing reach and reinforcing messaging from direct education through SNAP4CT social media 
• Collaborating with CT Department of Public Health and community partners on healthy eating environment Policy, Systems, and Environmental (PSE) 
• Interventions to better reach underserved adult populations who live in less-populated geographic areas in the state 

For the next grant cycle, Husky Nutrition and Sport will work with community partners to plan and implement programs as part of comprehensive, multi-level interventions that focus on two categories: A) Promoting Healthy Lifestyles during Childhood and B) Promoting Healthy Lifestyles for Adults through Policy, Systems, and Environmental (PSE) Interventions.