Microentrepreneurs for a Healthy Body, Home, Community and World

Microentrepreneurs for a Healthy Body, Home, Community and World, targeted to low income, minority and disadvantaged youths from underserved areas.  

Mission:

Break the cycle of obesity and malnutrition through innovative, motivating, interactive, media enriched entrepreneurial food programs that will create a healthier population and new generation of healthier food products and businesses in the profit and nonprofit marketplace.

Execute pilot program, strategically designed to become a sustainable, reproducible, and cost-effective model for combating the obesity, education, and economic epidemic in Chicago and America.  

Philosophy of Learning: 

 “Teach them how to fish so they will have food for a lifetime”.

Description of Project Goals and Objectives:

Empower and inspire students to improve their eating behaviors, lose weight, make healthier food choices, and become the gatekeepers of their health for a lifetime.

Develop marketable, competitive, achievable, lifelong skills for students in health, education and business and empower them to be socially and economically responsible.

Increase the self-esteem of students and sense of accomplishment/achievement, especially for minority, inner-city, and disadvantaged students, through entrepreneurism.

Create opportunities to provide affordable, convenient, delicious and healthier foods in the schools, homes, communities and workplace.

 Issues:

1/3 child/teen population, 2/3 adult population are obese or overweight in U.S. Chicago is 4th highest in U.S. childhood obesity. U.S. health care cost of obesity is $147 billion/yr. Illinois obesity costs are $3.4 billion a year and projected to rise to $15 billion by 2018 if trends continue (Illinois Public Health Institute).

Overweight kids are at risk for poorer academic achievement, increased absenteeism, health-related diseases, shorter life span. 1/3rd drop out of U.S. high schools/yr = 1.2 M kids/year; about 50% for African American and Hispanic/Latino kids. Only 55.8% CPS high school students graduate within 5 years.

Disconnected youths and high school dropouts more likely to be unemployed in adult life, require public assistance, create crimes, and become a permanent burden to society.  

Bottom Line:

Invest now in youth obesity prevention, innovative learning, and world-class education or pay later with poor health, chronic diseases, dropouts, crime, incarceration, and rising government debt.