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The lack of access to nutritious food is a major issue across Indian Country. One program in Nevada is looking to increase healthy habits among youth on reservations and the rural communities surrounding them.

The University of Nevada Cooperative Extension鈥檚 long-running program works to encourage Native American children to eat more fruits and vegetables, drink more water and be more physically active.

While it started a couple of decades ago, it wasn鈥檛 until recently that researchers started measuring its success. According to a published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, the program is working.

鈥淲e were able to show increases in knowledge in just about every area,鈥� said Staci Emm, a professor and extension educator at the University of Nevada, Reno and lead author of the paper.

Emm says she鈥檚 now working to publish more findings in hopes of securing federal funding to duplicate the program in other areas. But if that happens, Emm says it鈥檚 important to include local voices.

鈥淚n this curriculum, if you are, let鈥檚 say, in Colorado, we want to be able to use the local tribes鈥� culture and their traditional foods and their language,鈥� she said.

Emm says she鈥檚 also looking for funding outside of federal dollars so the program can focus less on national standards and more on traditional native food sources, like buck berries, pine nuts and venison.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City, KUNR in Nevada, the O鈥機onnor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, and KRCC and 糖心vlog传媒 in Colorado.

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