Families, friends, fun and food. These are the ingredients for the Fiestas de Salud, a popular nutrition program for Latinos in Hennepin County, Minnesota.

Led by Latina community health workers (promotoras), families and friends gather in homes and churches to learn about healthy eating. As they acculturate into the United States, Latino residents find their diets become higher in fat, salt and calories, leading to diet-related health concerns. Promotoras provide nutrition information using games and a color-coded diet message to make the information simple and memorable.  For example, fiesta participants find it easy to remember that yellow and orange vegetables like carrots and squash help fight infection and heal wounds.  Or that purple produce helps reduce the risk of heart disease. As one participant put it, “I like the nutrition class because it teaches us the benefits of fruits and vegetables and why we should eat them. It helps us to be healthy.”

Fiestas de Salud is a successful collaboration of many partners, including:

●     Comunidades Latinas Unidas en Servicio, a local social service agency which recruits and supervises the promotoras who deliver the nutrition education.

●     Latino churches, which provide safe and familiar meeting spaces for the fiestas.

●     La Invasora, a local radio station which produces and airs fruit and vegetable spots for Latino listeners.

●     Cub Foods, a local grocery store which provides produce and space for sampling sessions for Latino customers to try new fruits and vegetables.

Hennepin County Public Health created the nutrition curriculum and fiesta materials, and county staff provide ongoing health training for the promotoras. The materials were created with input from the Latino community for a look and feel that appeal to the Latino audience.

“Over the last two years, the promotoras and fiestas have used fun, positive healthy eating messages to reach more than 500 individuals in homes and churches, and another 1,500 at grocery stores,” said Liliana Tobon-Gomez, a health promotion specialist from Hennepin County Public Health. “We’re grateful to our many partners in the community who have made this program such a success over the last several years.”  For more information, contact Liliana Tobon-Gomez at (612) 596-9977 or visit the Hennepin County website at www.hennepin.us/health@thecommunitylevel.

The project is partially funded by the State of Minnesota and with Federal funds from the United States Department of Agriculture, food stamp program by way of the Minnesota Food and Nutrition Network at the University of Minnesota Extension.