RESULTS
Where We Are
Common Threads has children and families all over the country enjoying nutritious cooking. Hover below to see statistics for each market from the 2020-2021 school year!
MIAMI
Florida
- 4,484 People Served
- 28 Partner Organizations
PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh
- 1,628 People Served
- 15 Partner Organizations
Erie
- 727 People Served
- 11 Partner Organizations
CHICAGO
Illinois
- 2,867 People Served
- 54 Partner Organizations
TEXAS
Dallas/Fort Worth
- 1,738 People Served
- 14 Partner Organizations
Austin
- 1,026 People Served
- 12 Partner Organizations
Houston
- 2,033 People Served
- 13 Partner Organizations
El Paso
- 2,342 People Served
- 16 Partner Organizations
San Antonio
- 2,428 People Served
- 16 Partner Organizations
NEW YORK CITY
New York
- 6,433 People Served
- 48 Partner Organizations
LOS ANGELES
California
- 2,772 People Served
- 10 Partner Organizations
Students reached since inception
Adults reached since inception
Number of Snacks and Meals since inception
Miami, Florida
- 6,244 people reached
- Read about Ricky Dixon at Miami Central Senior High School, Common Threads alumni and now volunteer! ->
https://www.commonthreadsnews.org/post/meet-ricky-dixion
Chicago, Illinois
- 5,660 people reached
- Read about Patrick Kenny and his effort to raise funds for Common Threads using his Lemonade Stand ->
https://www.commonthreadsnews.org/post/patrick-kenny-s-lemonade-stand-for-charity
New York
- 4,790 people reached
- Read about a letter shared with Common Threads from Dewdney Liburd after he participated in Family Cooking Class in New York ->
https://www.commonthreadsnews.org/post/single-father-shares-his-appreciation-for-common-threads
Washington DC
- 522 people reached
- “Common Threads is about so much more than just cooking. It’s rewarding to see chefs-in-training have fun while they learn about nutrition, food safety, and the cuisines and food cultures of other countries. Plus, the chef’s toques we get to wear are really cool!” – Joe Blount, (Alexandria, VA)
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- 556 people reached
- quote/blog link (optional)
Erie, Pennsylvania
- 387 people reached
- quote/blog link (optional)
Texas
Dallas/Fort Worth
- 2,272 people reached
- quote/blog link (optional)
San Antonio
- 6,262 people reached
- quote/blog link (optional)
Houston
- 6646 people reached
- quote/blog link (optional)
El Paso
- 5896 people reached
- “Small Bites is an easy to use resource that helps open up the nutritional unit into any physical education or health curriculum. During COVID-19, Common Threads’ virtual curriculum has been helpful because it has been so easy to integrate, and the lessons are simple and interesting.” – Lonny Nava, Physical Education Teacher (El Paso, TX)
Austin
- 2974 people reached
- “Thank you from the bottom of my heart and from all of our families for making such a difference in Del Valle ISD! We are so proud to have such an awesome program in the district and thankful that your teams put in so much time and effort to make the open house at Popham Elementary School a success. It was an investment in our community which we cannot thank you enough for.” – Lauren Ivey Muniz (Austin, TX)
Los Angeles, California
- 2,772 people reached
- quote/blog link (optional)
Academic Research Partners
Common Threads has partnered with multiple university researchers to conduct novel and relevant research and program evaluation. The results of our research demonstrated the positive effect of our programs on participants and created insights for the broader nutrition and cooking education communities of researchers and program partners. Some of our recent partnerships include Baylor College of Medicine, Florida International University, and the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Building Evidence with Research
Common Threads serves as a community research partner, with a dedicated Research & Evaluation team. We are interested in conducting applied research that guides how we engage with and support diverse communities and how we build evidence about the effectiveness of our nutrition education and cooking skills programs.
Building evidence for the importance of nutrition education in medical school:
Cooking Up Health , our culinary medicine program with Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, is an elective medical school course. Based on pre- and post-surveys, students reported increased confidence in nutrition and obesity counseling, increased appreciation for the role of nutrition in health promotion and disease prevention, as well as improvements in their own cooking abilities. Learn more from an interview with Dr. Melinda Ring.
Building evidence for the importance of cooking skills training for elementary students:
In partnership with the University of Chicago, we found evidence of improvements, with statistical significance, in student knowledge, cooking skills, meal preparation at home, and overall confidence in the kitchen after students completed a Common Threads Cooking Skills World Cuisine class.
Publications
- Thompson, D., Callender, C., Velazquez, D., Adera, M., Dave, J. M., Olvera, N., … & Goldsworthy, N. (2021). Perspectives of Black/African American and Hispanic Parents and Children Living in Under-Resourced Communities Regarding Factors That Influence Food Choices and Decisions: A Qualitative Investigation. Children, 8(3), 236. https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/8/3/236
- Callender, C., Velazquez, D., Adera, M., Dave, J. M., Olvera, N., Chen, T. A., … & Thompson, D. (2020). How Minority Parents Could Help Children Develop Healthy Eating Behaviors: Parent and Child Perspectives. Nutrients, 12(12), 3879. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12123879
- Li, P. P., Mackey, G., Callender, C., Dave, J. M., Olvera, N., Alford, S., & Thompson, D. (2020). Culinary education programs for children in low-income households: A scoping review. Children, 7(5), 47.
- Yi S, Edens NK, Lederer A, Pan J, Chong SK, Wong JA et al. Dietary disparities of urban immigrant schoolchildren in New York City: Results from a mixed-methods pilot study. medRxiv. 2020:2020.05.01.20087486. doi:10.1101/2020.05.01.20087486. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.01.20087486v1.full.pdf (Document includes infographics of research results in English, Spanish, and Mandarin)
- Ring, M., Cheung, E., Mahadevan, R., Folkens, S., & Edens, N. (2019). Cooking Up Health: A Novel Culinary Medicine and Service Learning Elective for Health Professional Students. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 25(1), 61-72.
- Jarpe-Ratner, E., Folkens, S., Sharma, S., Daro, D., & Edens, N. K. (2016). An experiential cooking and nutrition education program increases cooking self-efficacy and vegetable consumption in children in grades 3–8. Journal of nutrition education and behavior, 48(10), 697-705.
- Thompson, D., Callender, C., Velazquez, D., Adera, M., Dave, J. M., Olvera, N., … & Goldsworthy, N. (2021). Perspectives of Black/African American and Hispanic Parents and Children Living in Under-Resourced Communities Regarding Factors That Influence Food Choices and Decisions: A Qualitative Investigation. Children, 8(3), 236. https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/8/3/236
Presentations and Abstracts
- Callender, C., Velazquez, D., Dave, J., Olvera, N., Chen, T., Goldsworthy, N., & Thompson, D. (2020). Comprehensive Nutrition and Cooking Education Programming Recommendations from Families in Underserved Communities. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 120(9), A77.
- Mitchell, M., Goldsworthy, N., Roth, A., & Gonzalez-Avram, C. (2019). Unique In-school Garden and Nutrition Intervention Improves Vegetable Preference and Food Literacy in Two Independently Conducted Evaluations (P16-040-19). Current developments in nutrition, 3(Supplement_1), nzz050-P16.
- Owens-Laymon, A., Mize, K., Roth, A., & Goldsworthy, N. (2019, November). Whole in One for Child Health! Multi-level Intervention Improves Student Vegetable Consumption and Food Preparation Self-Efficacy. In APHA’s 2019 Annual Meeting and Expo (Nov. 2-Nov. 6). American Public Health Association.
- Roth, A., Duenas, C., Talamas, L., Owens-Laymon, A., Mantilla, C., & Goldsworthy, N. (2019). Bridging the Gap; Recipes for Health Program brings Patients with Diet-Related Chronic Conditions into the Kitchen. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 119(9), A35.
- Goldsworthy, N., Miller, E., & Edens, N. (2018). After-school Nutrition and Cooking Class Improves Student Vegetable Consumption and Liking, and Nutrition Knowledge in a Two Year Control Study. Current Developments in Nutrition, 2(11), nzy048
- Ring, M., Mahadevan, R., Cheung, E., Folkens, S., & Edens, N. (2018). Power of Community-Based Organizations and Academic Health Programs Working Together to Deliver Integrative Medicine: A Case Study. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 24(7)
- Roth, A., Goldsworthy, N., Folkens, S., & Edens, N. (2017). Small Bites, Big Change! Teacher-Facilitated Nutrition Program Increases Healthy Eating Knowledge and Vegetable Consumption. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 49(7), S78-S79.
- Edens, N. K., Sharma, S., Folkens, S., Wojtowicz, A., Ranjit, N., & Evans, A. (2016). Experiential cooking and nutrition education program improves fruit and vegetable liking, vegetable consumption, and cooking at home in elementary and middle school children. The FASEB Journal, 30(1_supplement), 676-13.
- Folkens, S., Necessary, J., Ferrari, L., Pastore, J. S., & Edens, N. K. (2016). Online Game to Support Nutrition Education. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 48(7), S72.
American University’s Health Studies Department, Common Threads, and DC Central Kitchen presented at the 10th International Conference on Food Studies (November 2020) about increasing fresh food access and nutrition education in local communities by implementing community-based interventions. This video features Dawn Susi, Senior Program Manager in New York City and Shana Alford, VP of Research and Evaluation at Common Threads!
