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Healthy Habits

For Future Generations

Engage in a Meaningful Food Experience

The Mollen Foundation is a 501 C(3) non-profit organization dedicated to educating and empowering schools and communities to transform their lives by adopting healthy habits to achieve life-long benefits. The Mollen Foundation offers a comprehensive approach to healthy living through food education, physical activity, leadership and resiliency skills.

“Obesity is such that this generation of children could be the first basically in the history of the United States to live less healthful and shorter lives than their parents”
- Dr. David S. Ludwig

Innovative Programs to reduce food insecurity, obesity and hunger

School Programs

The Mollen Foundation integrates standard aligned food education across core academic subjects during the school day at Title 1 schools.

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Community Programs

The Mollen Foundation promotes a shared use model for schools and communities to have safe, accessible areas to gather, plant, and play.

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Professional Development

The Mollen Foundation offers a variety of knowledgeable resources to teachers, school administrators, and community members from site visits to professional development opportunities.

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Learning food history, how to grow produce and cook nutritious meals

Why Healthy Habits Are So Important

Adequate consumption of food doesn’t always provide students with the nutritional necessities for a successful day of learning. The Mollen Foundation supports fresh, local, nutrient dense food and challenges students to think critically about their choices in order to sustain a healthy lifestyle.

Our nation suffers from:

  • 80% of overweight adolescents will become obese adults (New England Journal of Medicine)
  • A Quadruple in Type 2 Diabetes since 1980 (WHO)
  • Up to 60 percent of Adolescents who are overweight or obese, have at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease (Dr. Lappe, Cleveland Clinic)
  • 13 million children are food insecure (USDA)
  • 42% of teens do not believe they are doing enough to manage their stress (APA)

The programs we facilitate are designed to promote proper nutrition and help students cultivate life changing habits and behaviors. This inquiry-based model offers students the ability to hone in on their critical thinking skills to apply to everyday life.

Our school programs promote:

  • Grade-appropriate knowledge and skills necessary to grow, prepare, and cook plant-based foods
  • Increased focus, attention, and body awareness through integrated mindfulness
  • Movement and increased physical activity
  • Mentorship and advocacy skills for healthier lifestyles

Our programs reduce stress and enable students to focus better in the classroom

"The best way to capture moments is to pay attention. This is how we cultivate mindfulness. Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing."
-Jon Kabat-Zinn

Program Highlights

Located in the historic Garfield neighborhood in downtown Phoenix, Garfield’s Garden on the Corner is open to students and neighborhood residents to become empowered with essential and culturally appropriate skills of self-sufficiency to transform their current behaviors to healthier, life-long habits.

The garden is a great resource providing the school and community opportunities to learn life skills which include growing and harvesting food, as well as learning to work together to create and share meals.

Garfield’s Garden on the Corner

The “Food and Fitness Challenge” is a campaign run by student sustainability officers which challenges students to engage in healthy habits. Students compete with different schools by posting, liking and sharing on social media about their involvement in healthy behaviors. They share their favorite healthy foods, exercises and stress relievers. The final competition results in funding to the winning school for use on healthy habits of their choice.

Food and Fitness Challenge

Our mentorship program allows students to engage their leadership skills to teach other students about growing, harvesting and cooking healthy meals.

Mentorship Program