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Sara Keathley, MS, RD, CSP, LD - Arkansas
 Sarah Keathley is currently working as the ambassador for Nutrition is for Everyone Arkansas. She is a registered dietitian with a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and a master’s degree specializing in nutrition from the University of Central Arkansas. With over 5 years of experience in grant and policy work, nutrition research, clinical nutrition, pediatric nutrition, individual nutrition counseling, and group weight management, Sarah also works as a private nutrition consultant. One of her biggest passions is to reach out to those who are in need of nutrition education/support and provide them with the tools to live a healthier and happier life. She has lectured widely on various nutrition topics including renal disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, nutrition in people with disabilities, and weight management. Sarah is an active contributor in the nutrition community working closely with multiple local organizations to improve community wellness and nutrition education in Arkansas. She has also assisted in educational cooking classes promoting the farm to table movement. Sarah currently belongs to the national Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Arkansas Dietetic Association. Contact Sarah at [email protected] for more details or to join the efforts in Arkansas.
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Lauren Griffiths, MPH, CHES - Louisiana
 Lauren Griffiths works for the Human Development Center at the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, LA. She received her Masters of Public Health at the university in 2015 and has worked there since as a Research Associate investigating pediatric obesity, physical activity, and nutrition. Additionally, Lauren has acted as the Louisiana Nutrition Ambassador since the inception of the Nutrition is for Everyone project last year. Lauren also sits on the board for Students for Sustainability, an organization that maintains the campus community garden, and she continually helps to establish and coordinate new nutrition education opportunities across campus to ensure that current students who will later become healthcare professionals have the foundational knowledge needed to teach patients how to live and eat healthfully. In her spare time, Lauren enjoys all things arts and crafts with a special love for watercolor painting and knitting. Contact Lauren at [email protected] for more details or to join the efforts in Louisiana.
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Alma Ellis - Mississippi
 A native Mississippian, Alma joined the IDS staff in March 1997. During her 20-years at IDS, Alma, who has a bachelor's degree in journalism, has served as a project director for numerous projects, including the Mississippi Family to Family Health Information and Education Center (MS F2F), the state's 10-year F2F HIC, as well as the Tobacco Control Strategies cessation project and previous family support, transportation, housing/long-term care and health literacy curriculum initiatives. For many of these projects, Alma organized and facilitated community meetings, forums and training sessions across the state for people with disabilities and their families. Alma is editor of the monthly Family Health Notes listserv for the MS F2F and a monthly tobacco cessation newsletter. A former state government employee, she has worked with many state agencies and advocacy groups through the years. As a professional communicator, Alma serves as IDS' dissemination coordinator providing editing and communication support for all institute projects and works with The University of Southern Mississippi, Office of University Communications to promote IDS and its projects statewide. A wife, mother, and grandmother, Alma eats a plant-based diet, attends Pilates classes twice weekly, and walks regularly. Alma is a traditional Southern cook interested in healthy eating, and she and her husband are long-time home gardeners. Contact Alma at [email protected] for more details or to join the efforts in Mississippi
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Ashley Brice, RDN, LD - Oklahoma
 Ashley Brice has been appointed as the new Nutrition Ambassador for Oklahoma. Ashley is a Registered Dietitian with a B.S. in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Oklahoma and is scheduled to complete her Master's Degree in fall of 2017. She completed the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Program at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and became a LEND Fellow in 2017. Ashley has experience in pediatric and adult medical nutrition therapy, scientific nutritional research, and food service management. She is currently a consultant dietitian, specializing in working with people and their families with disabilities and is looking forward to being a part of the Nutrition is for Everyone team! Contact Ashley at [email protected] for more details or to join the efforts in Oklahoma.
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Lee Shelley Wallace, EdD, RDN, LDN, FADA, FAND - Tennessee
 Dr. Wallace has over 25 years of experience working with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She received her M.S. in Public Health Nutrition from a Maternal and Child Health funded Leadership Education in Nutrition Program. Dr. Wallace is currently the Chief of Nutrition at the Boling Center for Developmental Disabilities at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She has not only taught people with disabilities about nutrition, food choices, and food preparation, but she has also taught extensively, both informally and formally, about nutritional needs for people with disabilities to other health care professional-in-training and the health care practitioners. She co-authored the position paper for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 2010 Providing nutrition services for people with developmental disabilities and special health care needs. Contact Lee at [email protected].
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Arkansas
  Nutrition is for Everyone in Arkansas has been planning and creating their year two approach. They have five primary goals for the upcoming year. These goals include 1) continue to offer adapted Cooking Matters classes for people with disabilities and their families, providers, and caregivers; 2) create a permanent adapted Cooking Matters curriculum through partnership with the national Share Our Strength organization; 3) continue with current partnerships in Arkansas and create new relationships to help increase our reach to the disability community; 4) develop and disseminate a Nutrition Education curriculum for Arkansas Disability Facilities to better educate the providers and caregivers of people with disabilities; and 5) increase access to local farmer's markets offered in the state for fruits and vegetables. Arkansas looks forward to reaching our goals and serving the disability community in our state for the second year of Nutrition is for Everyone.
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Loiusiana
 At the close of the first pilot year, the Louisiana project looks back and celebrates its successes. Over the last year, the project offered four Cooking Matters courses that taught individuals with disabilities and their family members and friends the skills and confidence to eat, cook and shop healthfully on a budget. These six-week courses engaged more than 70 participants in hands-on nutrition and culinary instruction where they chopped, mixed and stirred their way to healthier diets. Additionally, our project selected and trained seven Deputy Nutrition Ambassadors, including individuals both with and without disabilities, to act as nutrition instructors and advocates in their communities. Response to the program has been overwhelmingly positive and many participants report improvements in dietary behaviors even six to eight weeks after the end of Cooking Matters classes. Cooking Matters is a program of Share Our Strength, a national organization working to end childhood hunger in the United States, and more information can be found at cookingsmatter.org.
In the coming year, the Louisiana project is excited to expand its programming to reach even more people across the state of Louisiana. The project will pilot single day nutrition education events, in addition to the six-week Cooking Matters courses, where participants will learn how to integrate more fruits and vegetables into their diets. The project also looks forward to selecting and welcoming its new Deputies for the coming year.
Tennessee
 Tennessee is moving forward into the new grant year. The Nutrition Ambassador attended the Tennessee Disability Megaconference, "Tennessee's largest disability-specific conference for individuals with disabilities, families, and professionals" speaking as an accepted Presenter with the topic Nutrition Is For Everyone: Healthy Choices, Daily Living Skills, and shared a table in the exhibit/vendor area throughout the conference. Connections were made with both families and agencies who are interested in learning about foods and nutrition.
The Nutrition Ambassador was invited to attend the Inclusive Higher Education Alliance Meeting and briefly discussed with the university post-secondary education programs the current nutrition curriculum components and how partnering with Nutrition is for Everyone could provide or enhance resources with Deputy Ambassadors or Advocates.
A dietetic intern is beginning a nutrition-related needs assessment of people with disabilities in Tennessee, and over the summer will develop and implement a food and nutrition needs survey with the 29 agencies in the Tennessee Disability Coalition. This will start the process of prioritizing further outreach.
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You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to the AUCD Nutrition4All listserv. This is a discussion list hosted by AUCD to facilitate communication on strategies to include people living with disabilities in nutrition efforts and to include nutrition in disability and health efforts. Members can email the list by replying to a message or sending a new message to the list's email. To subscribe to this listserv, email Jessica Minor, MPP, Public Health Program Manager.
To view this newsletter online, please visit our webpage.
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To submit content for this monthly nutrition resource, please contact Jessica Minor, MPP, Public Health Program Manager. Nutrition resources and highlights with a short summary of 150-200 words. Photos and web links are encouraged!
All submissions for the July newsletter are due by June 23.
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