Brief History:

• 1989: Agricultural Development in the American Pacific Project (ADAP) project, USDA funded, among “Land Grant” Institutions in US affiliated Pacific Islands .
• 2000: ADAP Deans request program to address food, nutrition & health continuum, quality of life and impact of lifestyle diseases. Recruit Novotny
• 2000: Novotny meets with representatives from each location & developed a participatory, community based process to work with the food, nutrition, health continuum
• 2001: conducted focus groups exploring community perceptions of health and collaboration & named the program “Healthy Living in the Pacific Islands (HLPI)”
• 2002: used focus group results to create a planning framework
• 2003: CDC funding to work with Uniformed Services University to conduct nutritional assessment in American Samoa (June 2003)
• 2003: NIH/Minority Health funding to study Samoans in Hawaii , June 2003
• 2004: awarded USDA Integrated NRI (Human Nutrition and Obesity Program): Healthy Living in the Pacific Islands : Healthy Pacific Child Program