Community Partnerships and Educational Programs
Our core educational programs are developed through the combined expertise of community members and UConn HNS staff, reflecting our shared commitment to co-creation and collaboration. Each program embodies our partnership approach—blending partner priorities, community member lived experience, and academic expertise to promote nutrition, physical activity, and holistic wellness in meaningful, community-centered ways.
Husky Reads
Greater Hartford Early Childhood Education Centers
Husky Reads is a SNAP-Ed toolkit program that combines the foundations of literacy and healthy eating to introduce preschool-age children to health concepts and food groups. The lessons include age-appropriate read alouds, themed activities and food samples that encourage children to engage positively with food and fundamental body movement. Husky Reads integrates university students in service-learning course pursuing careers in education, public health, and more.
Since 1998, Husky Reads has combined the benefits of reading with the building blocks of healthy nutrition and physical activity. The learning objectives aim to increase MyPlate and food group knowledge; the ability to name fruits and vegetables; the willingness to eat a variety of foods; and engagement with games, play, and exercise.
Each year, UConn HNS staff, graduate assistants, and students in the Husky Reads: Food & Nutrition with Children through Literacy course (EDLR 1161 / NUSC 1161 | 2 Credits) engage PreK students throughout the state in the Husky Reads evidence based curriculum.
800+
Yearly Participants (Pre-Kindergarten Students)
45
Classrooms across 15+ ECE Centers
Practice Tested Curriculum
Husky Reads utilizes an evidence-based (practice-tested) curriculum that is nationally recognized as part of the SNAP-Ed toolkit. UConn HNS has worked with institutions in states across the country to replicate similar programs in their early childhood education centers.
At the end of each Husky Reads series, UConn HNS asks classroom educators to evaluate the program:
95% report that Husky Reads lessons increased preschool class willingness to eat fruits, vegetables or whole grains during meals or snack
99% report that Husky Reads lessons increased preschool class knowledge of what to eat to be healthy
95% report that Husky Reads lessons increased preschool class ability to name healthy foods
“We have had a long-standing partnership with UConn’s Husky Reads for more than 20 years...we have staff members that went to preschool here and remember the Husky Reads program! The preschoolers get so excited to see the UConn students every week. They love the lessons and snack time, and they form a connection with the UConn students.” - Stephanie Googe, assistant director of the Women’s League Child Development Center in Hartford
Fred D. Wish Museum School Partnership
Hartford Public Schools
Sport and food are powerful tools to build relationships, create belonging, and support youth development as part of the everyday culture and climate at Fred D. Wish Museum School in the North End of Hartford. Through weekly educational programs, monthly school community events and initiatives, and integrated leadership roles, UConn HNS supports learning and lifelong wellbeing for students, families and staff.
Learn More about the Fred D. Wish School Partnership
Health & Wellness Educational Programs
Greater Hartford Community Organizations
Rooted in genuine relationships and partnerships, UConn HNS works alongside community organizations and participants to co-create relevant and impactful health & wellness educational programs. Decades of investment within the Greater Hartford Community have always aimed to build positive relationships while delivering fun and engaging opportunities. Curriculum has prioritized features to ensure age-appropriateness, culturally representative and celebratory, interactive nutrition lessons, food resource management, food prep safety, healthy snack/meal preparation and eating habits, physically active games, and an exposure to a wide range of sports.
Learn More about Co-Created Health & Wellness
Health Equity & School Wellness
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Community Schools provide a unique opportunity to establish a representative and relevant culture of health in cities and neighborhoods. Our community-campus model has been developed around this potential for the last 20 years to build upon community assets and leverage university resources. We are working with Hartford Public Schools and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to develop an actionable and equitable model of school wellness that is community driven.
Organizational Culture & Capacity Building
Organizations and Institutions in Greater Hartford and Beyond
A core practice of UConn Husky Nutrition & Sport (HNS) is supporting partners with a range of collaborative and impactful services. These consultations are usually initiated by a partner’s request — a reflection of trust built through years of collaboration and visibility in their spaces. Collaborative efforts have so often thrived because a shared commitment to improve as a relationship-focused organization, support meaningful staff development, expand relevant and impactful curriculum, facilitated assessments in support of community well-being, and a desire for increased equitable opportunities and outcomes.
Workforce Development Training - for decades UConn HNS has invested greatly to support and develop professionals across fields of education, dietetics and nutritional sciences, sport management, social work, public health, digital media and design, non-profit, policy, research, and more. Our structured approach is informed by a “Community of Practice” framework. A range of themes connected to interactive group learning experiences, led by UConn HNS Staff and Faculty, have included:
Team Building | Community Voice | Youth & Family Engagement Strategies | Food Justice
Health & Wellness Lesson Planning | Welcoming Approaches for Evaluations | Culturally Responsive Education
Critical Service-Learning | Abolitionist Education | Trauma-Informed Coaching
Curriculum Development - each initiative is co-created with our partners to fit their unique context, blending community insight and evidence-based practice. We prioritize collaboration over prescription—working alongside partners, educators, families, and youth to develop curriculum and experiences that build capacity, celebrate culture, and foster collective health & wellness.
Community-Invested Evaluations - remaining responsive to the evolving priorities and needs of community collaborators, as a university partner we bring contributive expertise and capacity to engage in rigorous quantitative and qualitative methods of evaluation.
Academic Research – more than 100+ UConn HNS collaborators across students, alumni, faculty, and partners have contributed to our extensive list of academic publications and presentations. Research focused on high-impact educational programs within school and afterschool settings, community-campus partnerships, university student development, equity-centered teaching & learning, and racial justice.
UConn HNS Recent Community Partners List
| Bloomfield Senior Center |
| Camp Courant |
| Capitol Child Development Center |
| Catholic Charities |
| Community First School |
| ConnectiKid, Inc. - Summer Program |
| CREC Early Head Start at Catholic Charities - Saint Cyril |
| CREC Preschool at Progress Drive |
| CRT Hartford @ Douglas St. |
| EASTCONN Tolland County Head Start |
| Eastern Connecticut Health Network (ECHN) - Early Head Start |
| El Paraiso Infantil Early Childhood |
| Fred D. Wish Museum School |
| Happy Little Faces Child Care Center |
| Hartford Catholic Worker |
| Hartford Hospital: Wise Woman Program (WWP) |
| Hartford Neighborhood Center |
| Hartford Proud |
| Hartford Public Library |
| Hartford Public Library - Barbour St. |
| Hartford YWCA Summer Camp |
| HOCC Family Enrichment Center |
| Jefferson Elementary School |
| Manchester Early Learning Center |
| New Beginnings Early Learning Center |
| New Haven Public Library - Wilson Branch |
| North End Senior Center |
| Pequenin Children's Multicultural Readiness Academy |
| Public Library of New London |
| Richard A. Battles Daycare (formerly Mt Olive CDC) |
| Salvation Army Summer Program |
| Silas Bronson Library |
| Silva's Youth of Today |
| South End Wellness Senior Center |
| The Center: A Drop-In Community Learning and Resource Center, Inc. (Drop-In Learning Center) - Summer Camp |
| The Friendship School |
| The Right Place Preschool and Family Center |
| The Village for Families & Children at Wish School |
| TVCCA New London Little Learners / Head Start Program |
| Victory Cathedral Apartments |
| West Middle School |
| Wilson-Gray YMCA |
| Women's League Inc Child Development |
| YWCA East Hartford Early Learning Center (ELC) |
| YWCA Growing Tree Early Learning Center |