Education access and quality is a key social determinant of health that has a major influence on wellbeing (Healthy People 2030, n.d.). Higher levels of education have been shown to lead to increased opportunities, employment, income, and health status (The Lancet Public Health, 2020). Health literacy plays a large role in the decreased health status among those with lower educational attainment. Inadequate health literacy has been shown to have a stronger association with poor health than age, income, employment status, or race (Shahid et al., 2022). Within Durham County, race is highly associated with educational attainment, as over 50% of both Hispanic males and females do not have a high school diploma compared to less than 5% of white males and females (Statistical Atlas, 2018). This proposal will create both a cultural school meal food program as well as a health literacy and English-as- a-second-language (ESL) curriculum within Durham Public Schools (DPS). These proposed programs will create improvements in academic performance and health literacy among Hispanic/Latino youth, leading to long term improvements in the overall health status of Durham County’s greater Hispanic/Latino community.
Keywords: Social determinant of health, education, cultural/traditional meals, health literacy, English-as-a-second-language (ESL), Hispanic/Latino students/community, Durham County, North CarolinaMaster of Public Healt
