Iowa Healthiest State Initiative
The Iowa Healthiest State Initiative is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization driven by the goal to ensure every Iowan can live their healthiest life.
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ABOUT
The Iowa Healthiest State Initiative is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization driven by the goal to ensure every Iowan can live their healthiest life. By engaging worksites, communities, schools, retail food, organizations, institutions and individuals, we work to create awareness and integrate solutions to improve the physical, social and emotional wellbeing of Iowans. Our mission is to create awareness and integrate solutions to improve the physical, social and mental well-being of Iowans and our team oversees four programs across the entire state of Iowa.
Double Up Food Bucks: a fruit and vegetables incentive program that benefits Iowa farmers, families and our economy. Food insecure families receive $1 in DUFB for every $1 they spend on fresh fruits and vegetables with their SNAP EBT card up to $10. Double Up Food Bucks helps put healthy food on the table for food insecure families, and benefits Iowa’s farmers and economy with increased direct produce sales to local producers.
It’s a triple win for Iowa: Iowans eat more fresh produce, dollars stay in the local economy, Iowa’s farmers sell more produce.
5-2-1-0 Healthy Choices Count! launched in 2017, a health-focused initiative for kids that’s under the nationally recognized program, 5-2-1-0. This proven scientific method helps keep kids healthy by focusing on the importance of good habits: 5 or more fruits and vegetables; 2 hours or less of recreational screen time; 1 hour or more of physical activity and 0 sugary drinks-more water. The goal is to increase physical activity and healthy eating through policy and environmental change.
5-2-1-0 Healthy Choices Count! provides resources like activity sheets, toolkits, monthly features and more to help energize and inspire the children and adults of Iowa to make healthy choices in their lives. By partnering with early care, schools, healthcare providers, workplaces and community organizations, we support healthy living in the places where Iowans live, learn, work and play.
Make It OK is a community campaign to reduce mental illness stigma, start conversations, and increase understanding about mental illness. With 1 in 5 adults experiencing a mental illness in a given year, normalizing mental illness through education is critical to supporting Iowans to talk openly and ask for resources.
Iowa Produce Prescription Program connects food insecure patients with diet related diseases to healthcare providers to write prescriptions for free fruits and vegetables while delivering nutrition education. By providing healthy foods to Iowans with diet related diseases, we advance health equity by transforming the healthcare systems role to increase access to affordable, nutritious food to improve overall health of patients.