Community Champions bring knowledge, skills, and abilities to many engaging programs, projects and activities that they may perform. We align areas of interest and strength with areas of community need. Here are examples of engagement:

• Giving presentations to Alameda County programs about the value of healthy living.
• Co-teaching nutrition education class series such as the Cooking for Health Academy or serving as a peer educator for the Diabetes support groups
• Helping with community education for our the Rethink Your Drink campaign at healthy retail program sites.
• Supporting healthy living activities behind the scenes such as data entry and counting
• Assembling lunches, assembling nutrition/health education toolkits
• Serving as a Community Advisor helping to coordinate safe walking and rolling to healthy places

Champion Testimonials

“Serving as a Peer Educator with the Diabetes Program has been very rewarding. For more than 15 years I have been living with Type 2 Diabetes (with A1c under 7). I especially like to attend the Diabetes Classes and Support Groups taught by the Registered Dietitian and share my experiences. A fun role of Peer Educators is  to work at the Diabetes table at community health fairs.”

Tella
Diabetes Program Peer Educator 

“Hello, my name is Paola, Community Champion for more than 10 years.  My experience during all these years, apart from learning a lot about how to take care of my health and that of my family,  I have been able to help my community eat healthier and be more physically active”

Paola, Nutrition Services Program
Community Champion: Cooking for Health Academy, Zumba Instructor and more 

“I have learned how to be more productive with my time and how to value every minute because projects must be completed on time to better help the community. Also [this internship] has helped me to get more comfortable being in the workplace and learning about the flow of the workplace in general.”

Maryium
Summer Intern 2019 in partnership with Lao Family Community Development
California State University East Bay Biology Major
Oakland International HS Graduate Honor Roll 2016

“Working for Nutrition Services has helped me gain a better understanding of what the public health field consists of, which was originally unclear to me since this career field is so broad. During my internship, I obtained clerical and computer skills that I did not have before, such as learning how to use Microsoft Publisher. I was able to design a logo for the Oakland School Safety Patrol and created the material on the internship page found on the Nutrition Services website. I enjoyed being able to assist with the preparations for a very meaningful project that helps kids get safely to and from school. The best part of the internship was being able to talk with others about diet management, which correlates closely with my intended career to study endocrinology. The people in Nutrition Services are so nice and fun to work with!”

Casadora
Summer Intern 2019 in partnership with Lao Family Community Development
Biological Science Major University of California, Irvine
Oakland born and raised.

“During my internship, I had a chance to create, implement, and analyze customer surveys for the Healthy Retail program, work on data and image analysis for the tobacco surveys, work with the Safe Routes to School program, and develop a social media framework and curate content to promote Harvest of the Month. This opportunity gave me a hands-on approach to learning how county public health programs work and was a place where my contributions felt valued. The outreach and community-based efforts done by ACNS gave me exposure to what communities in Alameda County looked like outside of the Berkeley bubble. This internship gave me the chance to network with other professionals within the Public Health Department and brought new career possibilities to my attention.”

Crystal Hui
Summer Intern 2019, Health Career Connection, Inc.
Molecular Cell Biology Major │ Nutritional Science and Toxicology Major
University of California, Berkeley

“My internship experience with ACPHD Nutrition Services was phenomenal. I was able to experience working at the County level by helping with four projects led by Nutrition Services. I had the opportunity of working on a needs assessment project in East Oakland and Ashland, and also conducted a SWOT analysis for all the programs under the Public Health Department. I attended various meetings that brought together diverse stakeholders and addressed important issues such as the distribution of Federal tax dollars from the Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tax, as well as the barriers surrounding food insecurity problems through the Oakland Food Policy Council. One of the most valuable lessons I learned was to understand the needs of a population before approaching any community to conduct public health work…I would highly recommend this internship to any future public health leaders!”

Gail D’Souza, MPH, CHES®
Summer Intern, 2017
Master of Public Health
Claremont Graduate University

“My supervisor has given me a lot of guidance and support on the new projects that we have been working on. This internship has been an outside-of-the-box experience for me because you have to be fast on your feet and able to think on the spot. There are so many different things to work on, and the workplace is very different from a college classroom. I am also eager to start teaching a Cooking for Health Academy class.”

Zalaé Etienne
Summer | Fall 2019 Intern
Master of Science in Nutrition
University of Southern California, Berkeley resident

“Interning at the Alameda County Nutrition Services was a great opportunity for me to explore careers in dietetics outside of clinical nutrition. Working with Nori, my preceptor, and the rest of the team, I learned a lot about a dietitian’s role in the local community as well as how nutrition policy impacts the community. I did this through actively participating in and advocating potential nutrition policies in Alameda County/Bay Area and working on some of the department’s ongoing projects in healthy retail. As someone who is very interested in primary prevention of chronic disease, I valued learning about the local government’s efforts to create healthful environments for all levels of society to promote a thriving community. I highly recommend this experience!”

Allison Suchy, RDN
February and March 2019
Bachelor of Science in Nutritional Science
Cornell University

“Being in Nutrition Services helped me to gain more confidence in myself. Working with a great team taught me the importance of letting go of the self and to working as a team. I was and am still impressed by all the work that needs to be done to help the communities, and all the work that Nutrition Services, in conjunction with other departments, is doing to help those in need. They help seniors, children, and those with disabilities, impart nutrition classes, do after school fairs, and write policies. They have a fantastic network.”

Ericka Morales
April – June 2017
Certificate in Nutrition Assistance, City College of San Francisco