- (Strategic Initiative) Healthy Families and Communities
- Author: Marisa Neelon
- Co-PI: Charles Go
- Project 4-H20 Coordinator: Eli Figueroa

Project 4-H20 teen leaders' water promotion campaign at their Contra Costa high school resulted in 52% of students surveyed reporting drinking more water because of the campaign and school district board members deciding to help fund the efforts to promote healthy hydration.
The Issue
Earlier work by Project 4-H20 teens found that average student water consumption at at John Swett High School in Contra Costa County was...
/h3>/h3>- Author: Marcel Horowitz
- Author: Dorina M Espinoza
- Author: Anne Iaccopucci

Participation in California 4-H physical, social and emotional health programming increased 550% since 2009, and 74% of California 4-H youth report having a health-related growth mindset.
The Issue
California youth face increasing challenges to their social, emotional and physical health. Threats to children's physical health include obesity (28.9%), inactivity (76%), inadequate sleep (85%), and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (63%). Social and emotional health is threatened by persistent feelings of sadness (32%), school bullying (28%), and cyberbullying (14%).
/h3>/h3>- Author: Shannon Klisch
- Author: Katherine E Soule

After participating in 4-H SNAC programs, 95% of youth participants reported they learned how to be a better leader, supporting increased health outcomes in their communities.
The Issue
Youth in low-income communities of color face health inequities. While 14.6% of all California adolescents ages 12-17 are classified as obese, rates are much higher among Latino adolescents (20.2%) and highest among adolescents in very low-income households (20.4% vs. 12.7% among the highest income households). Further, /span>
/h3>/h3>- Author: Natalie M Price

UC Cooperative Extension Advisor Natalie Price co-chaired a food security symposium with 85 organizations focused on collective action in Los Angeles. 86% of those surveyed increased their understanding of policies affecting food insecure individuals & food assistance programs.
The Issue
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) considers a household to be food insecure if it experiences either: low food security – reports a reduction in the quality, variety, or desirability of diet, or very low...
/h3>/h3>- Author: Jennifer Sowerwine

UC partnership with Karuk, Yurok, and Klamath Tribes in Klamath Basin improves family and community food security, community health and well-being, and tribal food sovereignty. In a Basin-wide evaluation, 65% felt the community was more food secure.
The Issue
Tribes in the Klamath River Basin are among the poorest and most food insecure in the US despite great ecological diversity and a history of plentiful foods including salmon, deer, elk, acorns, mushrooms, and berries. Commercial fishing, mining, clear-cut logging, fire suppression, dams, and industrial agriculture coupled with decades of forced assimilation have disrupted traditional food systems...
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