Common Threads launches digital platform TEACH to expand food and nutrition education
AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 1, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- Common Threads, a 23-year-old national nonprofit dedicated to food and nutrition education, is expanding its reach by launching a digital training platform, TEACH, on September 15th. This move aims to bring its proven educational programs to a broader audience, addressing the limitations of in-person training in terms of accessibility and scalability.
TEACH, the digital learning platform, will offer certificate courses in Nutrition Fundamentals and Healthy Cooking Skills. These courses are designed to provide self-paced instruction, including instructional videos, making the content accessible to a wider range of professionals. The platform also includes Train-the-Trainer options, allowing organizations to train their own facilitators to implement Common Threads' licensed curriculum.
Common Threads has reached over 1.2 million participants, including more than 687,000 students, and delivered over 7.6 million hours of programming. Its comprehensive curriculum has been evaluated through 10 external studies and a continuous-improvement process, ensuring its effectiveness and relevance.
The digital platform targets educators, community health workers, registered dietitians, and health and social service professionals. Nutrition Fundamentals focuses on foundational nutrition knowledge and its application in classrooms, families, and communities, while Healthy Cooking Skills translates this knowledge into practical food preparation skills.
According to Chef Vivian, a Common Threads chef educator, the initial Cooking Skills & World Cuisine program at Don Haskins PK-8 in El Paso, Texas, generated significant demand, leading the school to extend programming to younger students and families. "The kitchen became a classroom where children learned leadership, teamwork, cooperation, responsibility, communication, and confidence," said Chef Vivian.
Before the public launch, Common Threads is inviting external reviewers to test the platform for usability, value, and relevance across different professional settings. The reviewers include Dr. Lisa Waddell, CEO of LFW Public Health Connections LLC and former chief medical officer of the CDC Foundation; Jeremy Walter, executive director of Food and Climate Education at New York City Public Schools; Dr. Jaimie Davis, director of the School of Health and Human Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin; Kate MacKenzie, CEO of Practice to Policy; and Dr. Pamela Koch, faculty director of the Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy at Columbia University. Their feedback will inform final refinements to the platform.
The expansion of TEACH is made possible through the support of the Ahmanson, Hearst, and Paso del Norte Health Foundations. O'Keefe, a leader in the development of TEACH, stated, "Some of the most valuable things we've learned don't exist in a single curriculum. They come from educators, families, evaluation, and years of seeing what actually works. TEACH is an effort to make sure that knowledge can travel."
The digital platform builds on Common Threads' existing curriculum and program knowledge, translating it into a new digital experience. The expansion is led by LaTrice Stirrup and Samantha Jones of Common Threads, with support from Minna Sabbahi, a registered dietitian at Common Threads.