Spot the Block: Teaching African American Parents and Tweens about the Food Nutrition Label

Background: The work of the National Coalition of Pastors’ Spouses (NCPS), a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization, on FDA’s Spot the Block program targeted African American parents and caregivers of tweens and teenagers to equip them with the skills to teach youth ages 9 to 13 to look for and use the Nutrition Facts Label to make healthy food choices.

Program background:  The NCPS educators used outreach strategies that met African American families where they already gathered and were comfortable hearing the messages of the campaign. Hosting a majority of Spot the Block trainings within local faith institutions was important to this effort’s overall success, as churches continue to be the most trusted institution for information dissemination in the African American community. NCPS’s team consisted of five Grassroots Educators working at the community level in five states (Florida, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, and Texas) as well as Washington, D.C. The training sessions, which attracted parents from varying socioeconomic levels, used hands-on activities to demonstrate the correlation among healthy food choices, food preparation, and portion sizes to the rise in obesity in youth. The sessions included small chunks of information on healthy eating that parents could easily implement into their busy lives.

Evaluation Methods and Results: Through these sessions, parents and children were able to learn in settings that were comfortable and conducive to dialogue. Reaching African American parents where they were already going for information proved to be an effective way to increase awareness of and knowledge about the Nutrition Facts Label.

Conclusions: Grounding this program in Social Cognitive Theory, focusing on meeting parents and tweens “where they were” both physically and knowledge-wise, and employing several best practices strategies created an effective campaign to increase awareness of the Nutrition Facts Label, increase understanding of the Label, and influence healthy eating behaviors.

Implications for research and/or practice: Behavior change campaigns must take into account the cultural, socioeconomic, and daily reality of the populations they wish to influence and provide small amounts of applicable and accessible information that can be easily incorporated into daily routines.