North Texas families face a variety of challenges that make it difficult or even impossible to maintain good nutrition. Many experience food insecurity and live in neighborhoods without access to healthy food. And some simply haven’t been exposed to the basics of nutritious eating habits. 

kids teaching kids®, our partnership with Medical City Healthcare, seeks to address these challenges by providing North Texas families with the knowledge and resources they need to thrive. 

By improving access to health for local students and their families, this fun and popular program directly supports our Aspire United 2030 goals, which are our North Star for driving transformational change and advancing racial equity in education, income and health throughout North Texas. When our neighbors have greater access to nutritious food, we can support a lifetime of health, as well as success in school and in a career.  

Keep reading to learn more about kids teaching kids®, its incredible impact over the last 10 years and how you can help support the health of your fellow North Texans. 

Good Nutrition Is a Challenge in Texas  

Texas is now the most food-insecure state in the country. In North Texas, one in eight people, or 640,000 of our neighbors, face hunger. That figure includes one in six children. In fact, Dallas County has the fourth-highest rate of food-insecure children in the nation.  

Several areas of North Texas—including much of Southern Dallas and East McKinney—are considered “food deserts,” locations without access to fresh food and other groceries. When residents have to drive 15 or even 30 minutes to buy groceries, they’re more likely to rely on fast food and other nutrient-poor options.   

The reasons behind these trends are complex and include factors like a lack of living wage job opportunities, limited public transportation and the fact that major grocery chains tend to avoid neighborhoods that are already suffering from a lack of investment. But another factor at play is a lack of knowledge of and exposure to nutritious food—something that every individual can benefit from. 

We’re Improving Health and Food Security in North Texas 

Since 2014, we’ve partnered with Medical City Healthcare to share healthy eating knowledge and resources with hundreds of thousands of North Texans.  

The kids teaching kids® Healthy Lifestyles program was created to help children and their parents build a lifetime of healthy habits through nutrition education and wellness activities. It engages high school Career and Technical Education (CTE) students to teach elementary school students healthier snacking habits while providing character building and activity education. Each year, it all comes together with a digital recipe book designed exclusively by kids, for kids.  

A key part of the program is the 21-Day Snacking Challenge, a three-week nutrition education program designed to help elementary students:  

• Develop healthier snacking habits  

• Learn how to create fun and simple snacks  

• Commit to eating at least one fruit or veggie daily  

• Increase mindfulness and activity levels at home 

Using the digital recipe book and the Healthy Snack Finder as a foundation, kids are empowered to create fun, healthy snacks on their own or with minimal supervision. 

A Growing Impact 

Data collected at the end of each 21-Day Snacking Challenge shows that kids are changing their eating habits, trying new fruits and vegetables, and introducing the program to their extended families. 

Since we partnered with Medical City Healthcare on kids teaching kids®, nearly 390,000 North Texas students have participated in the program. Today, 25 school districts across our region are part of kids teaching kids®. 

With each passing year, we expand our impact on the eating habits of our community. Take a look at how effective kids teaching kids® is at changing students’ approach to snacking and their perceptions of fruit and vegetables from this past school year 2022-23: 

• 70% of participants tried new fruits or vegetables 

• 48% consumed less chips 

• 50% drank less soda 

• 14% consumed more fruits and veggies 

Carmen H., a parent whose son participated in the 21-Day Challenge said, “Andre learned a lot. I was so impressed how engaged he was following other kids’ recipes. He dared to try new flavors and realized that healthy foods can really taste good! Plus, we made it a fun family activity. It was a win-win!” 

The program also benefits educators by ensuring kids have the energy and focus to succeed in school. According to one PE teacher, “The 21-Day Challenge encourages our students and their families to recognize the power of their choices to direct their own lives, to help shape and manifest their individual destiny. Our students realize that through disciplined snacking and wise decision-making they have more energy and feel better, prevent illness, improve their performance in extracurricular activities, and excel at a higher level academically.” 

Support Nutrition in Our Community 

At United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, we’re committed to improving children’s nutrition to create a healthy foundation for life. Together with supporters like you, we can ensure even more children and families participate in kids teaching kids in the coming years. 

Here are three ways you can support nutrition across North Texas right now: 

• Give: Make a gift to United Way to support our health programs, which benefit nearly 500,000 North Texans each year. 

• Advocate: Sign up to receive our Advocacy Alerts and Policy in Brief newsletter to stay up to date on our current policy priorities and get notifications on when and how to contact your elected officials. 

• Volunteer: Complete our volunteer interest form to receive updates on how to directly support health-related projects. 

Got 2 Minutes? Advocate for Expanded Food Access! 

United Way is committed to ensuring all North Texas children and families have access to nutritious food—and we believe our leaders should share that commitment! 

Every five years, Congress has the chance to pass a strong Farm Bill that invests in critical federal programs that help individuals and families keep food on the table. That includes SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps ease the strain and stress of hunger in North Texas communities. 

Tell your elected officials that you support protecting and strengthening SNAP. Click here to send an email to legislators. It only takes a few minutes!