DCCK teams up with Playworks to bring healthy living to more DC youth

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DC Central Kitchen has provided nutrition education and healthy food in DC’s food deserts and low-income schools for years, but we know that a truly healthy lifestyle isn’t just about knowledge of and access to healthy food. A healthy lifestyle must involve physical activity and education, too.

That’s why we’ve recently partnered with the DC chapter of Playworks, a national nonprofit organization that turns recess and afterschool hours into structured, inclusive opportunities for physical activity and healthy play. Our partnership, supported by the DC Department of Health, combines nutrition education and healthy play to help more kids in DC lead healthy, prosperous lives.

Playworks places trained coaches at low-income schools in areas of the city without access to full-service grocery stores or fresh, healthy food to facilitate physical activity programs, introduce strategies for more active lifestyles, and reduce bullying. Today, DC Central Kitchen is bringing nutrition education and healthy food to Playworks’ partner schools in Wards 5, 6, 7, and 8. Meanwhile, Playworks is helping DCCK educate our target population about easy strategies for increasing daily physical activity.

Together, DC Central Kitchen and Playworks are reaching kids and families more holistically to make healthy food and physical activity accessible for everyone.