Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2016 - (Page 12)

Teens Target: by Amy Entwisle IN SCHOOLS, COMMUNITIES, AND LABORATORIES, TEENS ARE FINDING UNIQUE SOLUTIONS TO PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEMS. HERE, WE FEATURE FOUR STUDENTS WHO ARE WORKING TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO FRESH FOOD AND CLEAN WATER, SAFEGUARD TEENS' MENTAL HEALTH, AND IDENTIFY TREATMENTS FOR SOME OF TODAY'S MOST PRESSING MEDICAL ISSUES. Creating Healthy Communities through Healthy Eating Amanda Tu grew up cooking with her family, enjoying meals with them, and helping tend their large backyard garden each summer. But she didn't appreciate the privilege that entailed until she transferred from a tiny suburban elementary school to a large public middle school in one of the most downtrodden neighborhoods in Louisville, Kentucky. "I met peers who ate nothing but junk food, who already struggled with diabetes and obesity, and who couldn't differentiate between broccoli and kale and had never tasted either," says Amanda, who began looking for ways to tackle food injustice in the community. Food injustice is the complex combination of inequities that renders it far more difficult for some people to access and afford a healthy diet. "Food injustice manifests itself in what can only be described as a form of socioeconomic and racial food apartheid," says Amanda. "The neighborhoods of West Louisville are teeming with fast food restaurants, yet they have half as many grocery stores per capita as other parts of the city." Indeed, research confirms that decreased access to healthy food means people in lowincome communities suffer more from diet-related diseases like obesity and diabetes than those with easy access to healthy food, particularly fresh fruits and vegetables. In 2013, Amanda began volunteering with New Roots, a regional nonprofit that aims to eradicate food deserts and promote food justice. What began as a service project soon morphed into a full-fledged internship as Amanda researched and identified relevant grant opportunities and then taught herself to write proposals for grants from a variety of funding sources. "I knew many of them were extremely competitive and that the odds of winning them were low," she says. But her efforts paid off. To date, she's raised over $62,000 for New Roots' outreach and programs, including over $22,000 for a program to develop leaders who create and implement solutions for increasing food security within their communities. Amanda has also worked to inspire her peers and community members to pursue food justice. She organized a student-led photojournalism exhibit demonstrating the need for food justice activism, which was displayed in a local healthcare center. Partnering with Bellarmine 12 imagine Amanda Tu with New Roots leaders at a photo exhibit she organized University, she founded and directed Louisville's first Youth Food Justice Summit, a forum where over 40 participants pursued internship and volunteer opportunities with nonprofits that are working toward food justice. Amanda stresses that solutions to the problem of food injustice demand in-depth community organizing and local specificity. While some businesses have begun establishing grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods, access is only part of the problem, she says. Grocery stores, which typically operate on a one- to two-percent profit margin, hesitate to open in low-income neighborhoods where the demand for fresh produce is usually low. And studies show that even when stores do open in underserved areas, their mere existence has little impact on food purchasing habits. This, says Amanda, is the tragic, self-reinforcing spiral of food injustice. "A child born into a low-income, food desert household, of parents Jan/Feb 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2016

Big Picture
In My Own Words CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H.
My Summer of Medicine Three ways of exploring healthcare
Teens Target: Public Health How high school students are solving real-world public health problems
Slowing the Race Addressing antibiotic resistance
For the Greater Good Majoring in public health
Epic Epidemics Studying History of Disease at CTY
Teen Health is Public Health Interview with Beth Marshall, Associate Director, Center for Adolescent Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Building Bridges Addressing health disparities through service
Becoming a Disease Detective Behind the scenes at the CDC
Finding Light in the Darkness Astrophysics at UCSC SIP
Girls Who Code Paving the way to careers in tech
Selected Opportunities and Resources
Off the Shelf Review of Iris Chang’s The Chinese in America
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options Interview with epidemiologist Christine Scott-Waldron, M.S.P.H.
One Step Ahead Summer in limbo
Planning Ahead for College Is medical school in your future?
Students Review: Tufts University
Creative Minds Imagine Essay contest winners
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2016