Program Misson
Steps to a Healthier US is a five-year cooperative agreement program funded by The Department of Health and Human Services and administered through the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan. The Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan has entitled this as “The Steps to a Healthier Anishinaabe Program”. The Steps to a Healthier Anishinaabe program works to implement chronic disease prevention efforts by reducing the burden of Diabetes, Obesity, and Asthma, through the following related risk factors: Physical inactivity, Poor nutrition, and Commercial tobacco use.
Activities
Year One will be focused on local community assessment, awareness education, planning and initial community outreach.
Years two through five will feature implementation of tribal specific community and school based interventions.
The approach of the STEPS project is to try to promote more balanced, realistic and manageable ideas about food and exercise, and to use education and media to promote working toward a healthier lifestyle as a social norm, starting with tribal community leaders and staff as role models for the community. The project will seek to enhance community assets which are many - including a history and knowledge of highly nutritious traditional foods such as fish, berries, wild rice, and a resurgence of interest in passing on traditional wisdom and cultural practices.
