HEALTHY
BEGINNINGS PROGRAM IN PORTAGE COUNTY
Healthy Beginnings Mission and Project Emphasis
 Mission:
Healthy Beginnings Portage County/Wisconsin Nutrition Education
Program (HBPC/WNEP) mission is to offer a comprehensive program
which provides Portage County participants growth opportunities
in the areas of parenting, nutrition, wellness, and personal resource
management for food security. The vision is that self-sufficient
parents will raise healthy, happy, productive children who will
contribute to our prosperity and sense of community.
Project Emphasis: The Healthy Beginnings Coordinator and
Team offer culturally sensitive support to first time families
through in-home visits to:
- Promote healthy childhood growth, development, and school readiness
- Enhance family functioning by building trust in nurturing relationships,
teaching problem-solving skills, and improving the family's
support systems
- Promote positive parent-child relationships and interactions
- Systematically assess the strengths and needs of new parents and
refer them to community services as needed
- Promote self-sufficiency in providing healthy foods and managing
financial resources
Wisconsin Nutrition
Education Program (WNEP) is blended with HBPC to offer first-time
families nutrition education, but it also reaches out to target
limited income families within the community at large. It
accomplishes this by:
- Implementing community-based nutrition education programs, within
a university research-based context
- Collaborating with community, state and federal partners to design
and offer programming which build's on participants strengths and
needs
- Offering Interactive Curriculum and Presentations
History and Collaboration
In 1995 the Portage County UW-Extension Strategic Program Planning
effort identified "Restore and Strengthen Families" as the number one educational
concern for Portage County residents. Additionally, the Portage
County Family Preservation and Support Project Planning Initiative,
through its 1995 countywide strategic planning process, identified
six critical
issues:
- Families Breaking Up
- Family Financial Difficulties
- Healthy Care
- Child Care
- Youth Issues
- Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse
Its project goals for Portage County included:
- Building healthy families by strengthening community capacity
to support a diverse array of families an individuals
- Recognizing families, their neighborhoods and social networks
are the primary resources for nurturing children
- Promoting partnerships within the community to meet the diverse
and changing needs of families
During 1997 the Portage
County UW-Extension initiated a Healthy Families America program
titled Healthy Families Portage County (HFPC), later changing
the name to Healthy Beginnings Portage County (HBPC). The
HBPC program utilized a newly funded county grant supporting the
Right from the Start initiative. This home based family
visitor program offers support to first time families prenatal
and beginning at the baby's birth. The mission is to support
families to be self-sufficient in raising their children to be
healthy, productive adults who will contribute to the prosperity
and sense of community.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow, 1954) suggests that an individual
is incapable of addressing higher-level needs until the most basic
needs have been met. As each level of need is met the individual/family
becomes healthy and self-sufficient; thus, the physical need for food,
housing and employment must come first. The Wisconsin Nutrition
Education Program's mission centers on participants choosing and fixing
nutritious, affordable and safe meals and snacks, managing personal
resources to improve food security; and balancing food eaten with physical
activity. Its delivery model focuses on walk-by and small or
large group presentations.
Through collaboration,
a merger of the HBPC in -home family visitor approach with WNEP
occurred in October 1997 to support families to meet their basic
physiological needs. By combining the complimentary aspects
of the two programs, participants/families are approached with
a holistic focus that allows them the opportunity to apply content
in their daily living. Together, these programs contribute
to a comprehensive prevention program with a mission to provide
Portage County participants/families educational and personal
growth opportunities in the areas of parenting, nutrition, wellness,
school readiness and personal resource management for food security.
Healthy Beginnings-Portage County is provided through the cooperative
efforts of:
- Right From the Start Coalition
- Saint Michael's Hospital
- University of Wisconsin-Portage County
- Wisconsin Extension Nutrition Education Program
- Portage County Board of Supervisors
STAFF
If you have any questions
regarding Healthy Beginnings in Portage County, please contact:
Jan Piltz
Portage County - UW Extension
Courthouse Annex Building
1462 Strongs Avenue
Stevens Point, WI 54481-3598
Phone: 715-346-1664
Fax: 715-346-1323
Email: janet.piltz@ces.uwex.edu
Return to Nutrition home
|
