Education
​Programs

Our guiding wellness principle is that a healthy mind, body, and spirit are the result of good nutrition and education. 

Poverty is the driver of poor health and education outcomes for minority children and their families. PHC provides underserved students the tools to overcome these obstacles in their early years with a multi-prong evidence-based approach. 

In research, goal setting and problem solving are meaningfully related to improvements in happiness, health, and academic success. Through the Emerging Scholars program, high school and middle school students are inspired to envision a future full of hope and possibilities. 

Healthy Minds

PHC works in partnership with the Detroit Public School Community District to infuse neighborhoods with high quality education programs, creating an evidence-based model for improving community health and vitality. 

PHC's education vision seeks to encourage students to think about how their behaviors in the present affect their future and to get students to believe their future has a likelihood of success, thus improving their happiness, health, and academic success. In the early years this message is taught to students through nutrition education, and as they mature it becomes the core of middle and high school leadership development training.

Nutritional Education Programs
PHC's Nutritional Education Programs connect young people (grades K-5) with resources and education to promote their physical and emotional well-being through in-class interventions and active engagement. By providing nutritional education during young people's formative years, these programs impact students' life-long wellness.

FUN Pantry (Fundamentals of Understanding Nutrition)
The FUN Pantry (Fundamentals of Understanding Nutrition) provides a nutrition and physical education program that helps teachers transform their K-2nd grade classrooms into health conscious environments through in-class interventions and leave-behind materials. Students play, learn, and make their own healthy snacks.

You're The Chef
You're The Chef empowers 3rd-5th graders to cook their own delicious, nutritious food. With the guidance of local chefs, students learn the components of a healthy meal and practice cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner, culminating in a competitive cook-off between classrooms.

MyGarden™
The MyGarden™ program uses garden-based learning to engage K-5th grade students in the science, work, and joy of growing fresh food. The MyGarden™ curriculum utilizes Math, Science, and English Language Arts lessons, as well as sense-based engagement, to introduce students to new foods, promoting healthy eating and physical activity.

The FUN Pantry program supports urban youth in a lifelong quest towards health and wellness.

Emerging Scholars Program: 
Workplace Internship and Youth Leadership Program
Helping Detroit’s underserved high school students become college or career ready is a unique aspect of PHC’s mission. By combining community service and workplace learning, students are inspired to envision their futures with hope, filled with possibilities. 100% of the Emerging Scholars have graduated high school; 90% have gone on to attended college, with the remaining 10% entering the armed forces and the workforce​. 

Scholars report:

• 90% said that the work experience helped them confirm their career paths.
• 100% said the experience gave them confidence that they could attract positive things into their lives.
• 90% said that the experience helped realize that they could be successful in new situations. 

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Service and workplace learning are combined to inspire the students to envision a future full of hope and possibility.

Lester Family Summer Camp
The camp offers a wide variety of engaging activities, including swimming, dance, music, outdoors sports, arts & crafts, community gardening, nutrition education, social-emotional skill-building, and field trips to many Detroit gems, including local parks, the riverfront, the science center, and museums. 

PARTICIPATE

Nutritional Education Resources
PHC combines nutrition education with literacy programming in its educational resources, which are used in PHC's programs and made available to educators and families. These videos were funded through a generous grant from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund.

Young people learn different types of healthy foods, exploring the importance of a varied diet.

This video explores the importance of eating well and exercising regularly.

Young people are encouraged to explore the kitchen in this video, which walks through basic steps in the cooking process. 

This video tracks the progress of food as it grows on a farm and makes its way to a grocery store.