1. Snack Smart, a Healthy Start 1
Snack Smart, a Healthy Start
La Familia/The Family Center
Sienna Moser, Abby Redmond and Madysen Jourgensen
- Needs and Strengths Assessment -
The Honor Pledge
“I have not given, received, or used any unauthorized assistance.”
Signature _______________________________________________________
Signature _______________________________________________________
Signature _______________________________________________________

2. Snack Smart, a Healthy Start 2
Table of Contents
Description of Community Partner............................................................................................. 3
Problem Statement........................................................................................................................ 5
Data Collection Activities............................................................................................................. 6
Results............................................................................................................................................ 7
Intervention Design....................................................................................................................... 8
References.................................................................................................................................... 10
Appendices................................................................................................................................... 11
Appendix A .............................................................................................................................. 11
Appendix B .............................................................................................................................. 12

3. Snack Smart, a Healthy Start 3
Description of Community Partner
La Familia/the Family Center is a nonprofit organization that works to strengthen
families with children. Per the website, the organization was established in 1995, as part of
Colorado’s Family Initiative, as a response to the community’s concern for “maintaining and
enhancing the quality of life for working families in Larimer County” (The Family Center/La
Familia, 2014). La Familia advocates for all families, no matter race, ethnicity, socio-economic
status or living situation. The main focus areas that La Familia emphasizes are: Family
Strengthening Services, Healthy Living Program, Early Childhood Education, Youth Enrichment
Programs, Adult Education and Resources and Referrals. Through maintaining a collaborative
relationship with other organizations in the community, La Familia feels as though they can
address many issues that fall outside of the focus areas through referral of specialized needs.
Some of their community partners include: The Family Resources Center Association, the
Poudre School District, Crossroads Safehouse, the Growing Project, Food Finders, and up to 19
more. La Familia works on the local as well as statewide level-“in efforts to address
institutionalized disparities” (The Family Center/La Familia, 2014). This organization is
attempting to make services and systems “fair, responsive and accountable to all people” (The
Family Center/La Familia, 2014).
La Familia’s clients are families. This allows for a wide range of ages and services
because La Familia caters to youth, early childhood, expecting parents, and adults.
As mentioned above there are six main focus areas that La Familia emphasizes. Each of
their programs falls under one of the focus areas. For Family Strengthening Services, La Familia
offers: Parents as teachers, Family Development Program, CORE Coaching, Family Visitor

4. Snack Smart, a Healthy Start 4
Program, Sexual Assault Victims Advocacy: Spanish-speaking Women’s Group. These
programs are evidence-based systems that use coaching, referrals and goal setting to strengthen
family dynamics and independence (The Family Center/La Familia, 2014).
The Healthy Living Program focus area addresses health, fitness, nutrition, and
sustainable eating options through the following programs: Cooking Matters, PAT Nutrition and
Fitness, Coordinated Approach to Childhood Health, Coordinated Approach to Childhood Health
Early Childhood, Community Garden, Food Finders and Health Screening. Additionally, the
Healthy Living Program focus area addresses Medicaid assistance and eligibility through
Medicaid/CHP+ Application Assistance Site and Medicaid/CHP Presumptive Eligibility (PE)
Site.
El Nidito/The Little Nest, Experiential Play Areas, Colorado Pre-school Program, Early
Head Start, Teaching Strategies Gold, and Enrollment are all programs that La Familia offers to
assist in various areas of early childhood education.
The Youth Programs focus area offers after school and summer programs that offer fun
and educational ways to remain engaged while not in school. These two programs are called
Read Learn Explore: After School Program and Read Learn Explore: Summer Program.
Additionally, the Youth Programs offer a youth sports program (Coordinated Approach to
Childhood Health and Youth Sports) and cooking classes (Teen and School Age Cooking
Classes).
The Adult Education Focus area offers courses with the topics of: English as a Second
Language, Computer, Language Exchange, Citizenship, Parenting and various other options. The
final focus area, Resources and Referrals, offers a multitude of additional resources that can be

5. Snack Smart, a Healthy Start 5
specialized to the client’s unique needs such as: Car Seat Safety, Advocacy Closet, Utility
Assistance and many more.
Problem Statement
Childhood obesity leads to many health effects, long-term as well as immediate. Obese
children are at immediate risk for cardiovascular disease, pre-diabetes, and bone and joint
problems (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014)(a). Long-term, obese children are
more likely to suffer from heart disease, type two diabetes, stroke, cancer and osteoarthritis
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014)(a). Together heart disease and diabetes cause
670,408 deaths annually (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010)(a). In 2012, more
than 33% of American children were either obese or overweight with 17% of children between
the ages 2-19 being obese (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014)(b). The childhood
obesity trend is increasing. Colorado’s rate has increased as the second fastest in the nation
(CanDo Coalition for Activity and Nutrition to Defeat Obesity, 2011). In Larimer County, 27%
of Poudre School District Children have “borderline or high cholesterol” and only 32.4% are
eating five or more servings of vegetables per day (CanDo Coalition for Activity and Nutrition to
Defeat Obesity, 2011). Specifically in Fort Collins, 25.5 % of children are overweight or obese
and 34.5% of Hispanic children are overweight or obese (CanDo Coalition for Activity and
Nutrition to Defeat Obesity, 2011). The population of Hispanic children in Fort Collins is 2.4%
higher than national statistics.
The Family Center is working towards creating a positive environment for changing the
trend of childhood obesity through programs such as: C.A.T.C.H. (Coordinated Approach to
Childhood Health), Youth Sports, Teen and School Age Cooking Classes, and Cooking Matters

6. Snack Smart, a Healthy Start 6
(The Family Center/La Familia, 2014). The Fort Collins community is also attempting to address
the issue of childhood obesity through programs such as “CanDo” and Colorado State University
STEM’s Fuel for Fun (CanDo Coalition for Activity and Nutrition to Defeat Obesity, 2011)
(Cunningham-Sabo, 2013).
Data Collection Activities
To begin data collection for the Needs and Strengths Assessment we came up with a list
of questions for Ally to answer about La Familia and sent them to her via email. After receiving
answers to the questions we realized it would be most beneficial to tap into other databases and
online resources that provided statistics and information on the obesity problem affecting our
target population of mainly Hispanic Americans and children of that ethnicity in particular.
As we discussed the needs and strengths from our assessment we decided to hone in
specifically on overweight and obese children. In order to collect proper data on the childhood
obesity and overweight issues in America and in Fort Collins specifically, there are many
resources we are able to tap into. To make the research specific to our target population at La
Familia it was important to collect information on not only Caucasian Americans, but also
Hispanic Americans, as this is the main population that La Familia serves.
Data collection began with an interview with our Community Partner. The interview was
directed towards Ally Eden. Ally is the supervisor for our community partner work (See
Appendix A). Questions that were asked of Ally were mainly general questions directed at the
funding of La Familia, statistical resources that the center uses and services that La Familia
provides.

7. Snack Smart, a Healthy Start 7
In order to include more extensive data about the needs of our target population, Internet
databases were also tapped into. Among the databases used, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, CanDo Coalition for Activity and Nutrition to Defeat Obesity, and the Coordinated
Approach to Childhood Health, were the most informational. From the online resources used to
research the childhood obesity issue, we were able to cover a broad spectrum of information on
the issue at hand.
Results
From the information that Ally provided in the interview, we learned that La Familia
supplies services to about 100 different families. When asked about the attendance and success
numbers, Ally was not completely sure; she did, however, say La Familia has built up a very
good reputation and client base. When asked about funding and where they get their resources,
Ally reported that La Familia is funded mainly by grants and donations. The early childhood
center, however, receives some funding from government and state subsidy programs. Ally
mentioned that the Bohemian Foundation is also a major contributor to the prosperity of La
Familia. Additionally, we asked Ally if La Familia was state-wide or limited to Fort Collins. She
confirmed that La Familia is the only center in Larimer County, but is part of a statewide
association of resource centers for families in other counties. When asked about how La Familia
assesses the community’s needs through statistics, Ally gave many different resources. These
resources include: Kids Count Colorado by the Colorado Children’s Campaign, The Larimer
County Department of Public Health Initiative, and The Early Childhood Council of Larimer
County. La Familia also collects their own information from their programs by measuring
progress through pre and post surveys, living assessment tools, and demographic collection.

8. Snack Smart, a Healthy Start 8
Intervention Design
We decided to focus our project on the rising issue of overweight and obese children. We
will do this by gathering data on a national and local level and comparing and applying it to the
Children of La Familia. We thought an ideal way to address the issue would be to focus on the
children’s snacking habits and helping them to identify and prepare healthy snacks for
themselves. This can increase their intake of nutrients that may be lacking while also decreasing
their affinity for unhealthy snacks. Many of the kids at La Familia may have limited access
and/or knowledge about healthy snacks and how to prepare them. In order to form an effective
intervention, we need to understand the children’s snacking habits at La Familia and how they
compare to other children both locally and nationally. The ultimate goal of our initial plan for
intervention is to determine the children of La Familia’s likeliness and capacity to consume
and/or prepare healthy snacks for themselves as compared to local and national trends. We
should accomplish this by October 10th in order to proceed with our intervention for the next
step of this project.
To accomplish this goal we have established some smaller objectives for our data
collection and initial planning. The first objective is to interview various children at the family
center to learn about their snacking habits such as the snacks they typically consume and their
idea of a healthy snack (See Appendix B). These interview questions will be administered orally
to random children in the day care at different times. These interviews will provide us with a
general concept of how the children at La Familia snack and a little bit about their knowledge of
healthy snack options. This objective should be completed by October 3rd
so that their responses
can be compared to data from other populations.

9. Snack Smart, a Healthy Start 9
Similarly, our next objective is to interview parents at The Family Center to determine
what kinds of snacks their children tend to eat, prepare or request. We can also question the
parents about what snacks they tend to prepare or make available to their children (See Appendix
B). These questions will tell us a little bit about the children’s accessibility to healthy options and
what snacks are typically available to them. These interviews will also be administered orally to
random parents at the center at various times and should be completed by the same date (October
3rd
).
An additional objective would be to obtain La Familia demographic information from our
contact so we can determine their average socioeconomic status and how it compares to national
poverty levels. This is important information to compare the families at our community partner
to national poverty levels and to see how socioeconomic status can affect snacking choices. We
can do this by simply requesting any survey information from our contact at La Familia that is
legally available to us and/or referring to their website. We can complete this objective by
October 3rd
assuming our contact is able to meet our deadline.
Our final objective is to research local and national snacking trends for children and use
that information to effectively compare the data from our previous objectives to local and
national trends. This research is imperative for us to assess La Familia’s needs and strengths and
successfully implement our intervention. This research should be completed by October 10th to
give us adequate time to review the data and develop an appropriate intervention.

10. Snack Smart, a Healthy Start 10
References
CanDo Coalition for Activity and Nutrition to Defeat Obesity. (2011). Current Trends in
Overweight & Obesity in Our Community. Fort Collins: University of Colorado Health.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010). Leading Causes of Death. Atlanta, GA:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (a)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). Childhood Obesity Facts. Atlanta, GA:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (b)
Cunningham-Sabo, L. (2013). Fuel for Fun: Cooking with Kids Plus Parents and Play.
Retrieved from CSUSTEM: http://stem.colostate.edu/?post_type=stemitem&p=407
The Family Center/La Familia. (2014). Retrieved from thefamilycenterfc.org:
http://thefamilycenterfc.org/?page_id=51
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2010). Overweight and Obesity Statistics .
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease.

11. Snack Smart, a Healthy Start 11
Appendices
Appendix A
---Copy of Email Interview with Ally Eden---
Q: How many people benefit from the Family Center's services every year?
A: 100 families
Q: Do you have any information from the after school fitness program and cooking classes that
indicate a change in health of people who have participated? and if so how do you measure that?
A: We have each adult participant fill out a healthy living assessment tool designed by our
Funders at the end of each class to measure changes in attitude/behavior. Cooking Matters, the
organization, also does its own data collection with pre and post surveys, as well as extensive
demographic collection. Check their website for the latest statistics. For the afterschool fitness
program, we do not measure outcomes. However, the curriculum C.A.T.C.H. is evidence based
and you can probably find the research online
Q: How do your attendance/success numbers compare to organizations similar to the Family
Center?
A: I honestly wouldn’t know. I would say that we do attract a high percentage of Latinos
compared to other centers, though, since we have been in the community for so long and have
built up a good reputation.
Q: How is the Family Center Funded?
A: Grants and donations, mostly. Our early childhood center also participates in government and
state subsidy programs, though.
Q: What does the local community do to support the Family Center?
A: Fort Collins is a very supportive community. The Bohemian Foundation, for one, has been
extremely generous and dedicated to seeing our center thrive. Aside from local donors, though,
it’s the free publicity that is priceless. People learn about us through word of mouth- it’s
powerful.
Q: Is the Family Center state-wide?
A: No, in fact we are the only Family Resource Center in all of Larimer county. We belong to a
statewide association of family resource centers in other counties, though, known as FRCA.
Q: On your website I saw that the Family Center was created as part of the Family Initiative.
What is the Family Initiative?
A: Not sure
Q: Which national health statistics do you use to assess community need (specifically for
health/nutrition related issues)?

12. Snack Smart, a Healthy Start 12
A: Kids Count Colorado by the Colorado Children’s Campaign, the Larimer County Department
of Public Health initiative, and the Early Childhood Council of Larimer County
Appendix B
Oral Interview Questions for Children
1. What is your favorite snack?
2. What snacks do your parents make for you? Do you make snacks for yourself?
3. What do you think a healthy snack would be?
Oral Interview Questions for Parents
1. What are the things that your children snack on the most?
2. When they want a snack do they make it themselves? Or do you make it for them?
3. If snacking, do your children tend to eat fruits and vegetables? Or do they tend to eat pre-
packaged snacks?