The Building for Kids Children’s Museum (BFKCM) was recently awarded a competitive federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). This grant, totally just under $200,000, will support the BFKCM’s Food to Grow Initiative, a program series that will help develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes around sourcing, preparing, and consuming a variety of nutritionally valuable foods among children and their grown-ups.
The Food to Grow Initiative is in alignment with the BFKCM’s new exhibit, Food to Grow, sponsored by Children’s Wisconsin with additional support from Schreiber Foods and the Fox Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau. Food to Grow will open on Friday, October 6. Programs within the Food to Grow Initiative include a field trip experience that explores the role food plays in our bodies, family cooking workshops, and opportunities for daily museum visitors to experiment with new foods.
“In Wisconsin, studies show that both kids and grown-ups are not eating a nutritionally diverse group of foods like their bodies need,” says Oliver Zornow, Executive Director of the BFKCM. “We are looking forward to seeing how the Food to Grow Initiative can empower our community to source and consume a greater variety of nutritionally valuable foods and are grateful that the importance of this work is being recognized on a federal level with this IMLS grant.”
Through the support of this grant, the BFKCM will also be working with Dr. Mark Jenike, a nutritional anthropologist from Lawrence University, to evaluate the impact of the Food to Grow Initiative in our community. During this two-year study, Dr. Jenike will evaluate the effect of the various programs to inform the long-term efforts to impact food culture, food choice, and food sourcing for kids and their grown-ups who visit the BFKCM.
About the BFKCM
The BFKCM has been inspiring discovery and building resilience through intergenerational play-based learning and exploration of the arts, sciences, and humanities since 1992. For more information about the BFKCM, including its programs and events, visit www.buildingforkids.org.
About the IMLS
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. IMLS envisions a nation where individuals and communities have access to museums and libraries to learn from and be inspired by the trusted information, ideas, and stories they contain about our diverse natural and cultural heritage. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
