A Better Start

Who We Are

A Better Start (ABS) is the preventative health education component of the Women and Children’s Service Line (WSC) at Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia (EMCP). Our role is to develop relationships with community organizations, faith-based and educational sites in the community to promote collaboration in identifying challenges to health and well-being, and to develop and implement programming to address those challenges.

A Better Start is addressing nutrition related issues through USDA SNAP-ED funds as well as through Einstein internal grant funding. The overarching name of our nutrition related programming is FUN: Families Understanding Nutrition. Our programming begins with pre-school children and reaches school age, adults, and seniors.

A Better Starts' mission is to:

• Improve the well-being of our community through health education, health promotion, and building sustainable partnerships
• Improve the well-being of our community through health education, health promoting programming, and advocating for health equity
• Provide resources so that everyone in the communities throughout Philadelphia have the ability to achieve and maintain good health

What We Do

We are working with school leadership to identify ways to promote a healthy environment and integrate physical activities, water, and non-food celebrations into school programming. We provide food tastings for caregivers on report card days and attend special events at the school.

In addition, we offer caregiver workshops and adult cooking classes. At a cohort of our sites, we provide monthly produce stands where families from the school and community can purchase fresh fruits and vegetables at cost, using their EBT cards.

During the summer, we reinforce our programming at schools, community and library sites.

Community Involvement

Our Sites

We partner with the School District of Philadelphia’s (SDP) Eat Right Philly program and provide nutrition education in 32 schools. In grades K-2, we focus on eating a variety of healthy foods – especially fruits and vegetables (Eating the Alphabet). In grades 3 and above, we facilitate hands-on cooking experiences for students.

Click here to see a list of all of the schools we support. (PDF)

Contact Us

A Better Start
Preventative Health Education
1325 Tabor Road
Philadelphia, Pa 19141
abetterstart@einstein.edu

Follow Us Online!

Instagram - @abetterstart_einstein
Facebook - @abetterstarteinstein
YouTube - http://bit.ly/ABetterStartFUNProgram

This institution is an equal opportunity provider. This material was funded by USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) through the PA Department of Human Services (DHS).​