Child Nutrition Fellowship
Our Child Nutrition Fellowship program helps strengthen and improve the nutrition field and the communities they serve by investing in outstanding BIPOC students pursuing their nutrition degree.
80% of Registered Dietitians are White. We want this to change.
In 2020, Kids Eat in Color pioneered the Child Nutrition Fellowship for BIPOC nutrition students. This Fellowship provides relevant, nutrition-related PAID experience and mentorship to help increase diversity in the field of nutrition. Students begin this program in their third year of undergraduate studies and may be invited to continue in the program for up to four years.
Over 2-4 years our Fellows receive experience in the following areas and others:
- Professionalism and project management
- Social media
- Entrepreneurship
- Research and literature
- Child nutrition and feeding
- Customer service and understanding client needs
- Nutrition education
- Website design and use
- Writing
We encourage any organizations that are able to consider starting similar programs to work toward the goal of increasing diversity in a field that has a direct impact on the health of BIPOC communities.
Many organizations have started similar programs as a result of our nutrition fellowship program, and we are happy to provide best practices to any organizations considering something similar.
BIPOC students face many barriers to becoming registered dietitians. In order to become a registered dietitian, one needs a 4-year degree (soon to become a masters degree). Then one needs to match to an internship.
Dietetic internships are highly competitive and applicants need many extra activities and experiences on their resumes in order to have competitive applications. Then one does a one-year unpaid internship.
All of these steps can be barriers to becoming a registered dietitian if a student needs to work in order to pay their way through school.
If their family has less generational wealth or their community has less community resources due to systemic racism, it can be difficult for a student to be able to study to become a registered dietitian and then complete school, the internship, and the final exam.
We began this Fellowship to provide a paid opportunity and relevant nutrition-related experience, as well as mentorship, in order to help students succeed through their intent to become registered dietitians.
Our first Fellows graduated with their bachelors degrees in 2022, and we are excited to see them continue their study and experiences.
Charlotte from Our Program
Charlotte just graduated from Western Carolina University in the Brinson Honors College pursuing a major in Nutrition and Dietetics and a Minor in Spanish. She is currently a Child Nutrition Fellow at Kids Eat in Color. She helps facilitate the BetterBites program and helps create child nutrition guides to help parents and caregivers feed their picky eaters.
In May 2022, she was matched to their first choice dietetic internship.
Shemar from Our Program
Shemar is graduating from Texas State University. He is the Child Nutrition Fellow at Kids Eat in Color. He reads and synthesizes scientific literature and creates research briefs on child nutrition and guides to help parents and caregivers feed their picky eaters.
Ways to Support
If you would like to be a part of this movement, we provide support to @diversifydietetics and encourage anyone who is interested to do the same.
If you would like to help fund the child nutrition fellowship program, you are also welcome to contribute to our Fellowship fund.