Purpose

Various resources are available to help CAAs work with parents and others to promote improvements in school nutrition programs as an important measure to enhance the health and achievement of low-income students.

Description

WeCanEndHunger includes links to helpful information and materials on a wide range of food and nutrition topics.  Please LET US KNOW if you have suggested items that can be added on SCHOOL NUTRITION.  

Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK) is a nationwide initiative dedicated to improving the health and educational performance of children through better nutrition and physical activity in schools. This effort represents a response to our nation's epidemic of overweight, sedentary, and undernourished children and adolescents. Healthy schools produce healthy students -- and healthy students are better able to learn and achieve their true potential.

AFHK is composed of 51 State Teams and a national coordinating and resource group. AFHK fosters sharing and collaboration among diverse stakeholders to encourage and facilitate meaningful change in schools. Guidance and direction is provided by more than 60 national organizations and government agencies representing education, health, physical activity and nutrition.

• State Profiles - i.e. Alabama
• Campaign for School Wellness 
• Game On! The Ultimate Wellness Challenge Toolkit
• Action for Healthy Kids Wellness Policy Tool 
• ReCharge! Energizing After-School 
• Students Taking Charge
• Other Programs and Best Practices

Food Research and Action Center (FRAC)

• Parent School Wellness Brochure
• School Wellness Policy Checkup: Is Your School District Addressing the Needs of Its Low-Income Students?
• School Wellness Policy and Practice: Meeting the Needs of Low-Income Students includes Assembling the Team; Increasing Access to School Meals; Establishing Nutritional Guidelines for All Foods Available at School; Addressing Cost Concerns About Changing Competitive Food Policies; Securing Outside Financial Support for Wellness Initiatives; Incorporating Nutrition Education into the School Day; Increasing Physical Activity at School; Afterschool and Summer Programs: An Important Part of the Wellness Policy.
• Advocacy Tools – An Advocate’s Guide to the School Nutrition Programs
  • School Breakfast Program
  • School Lunch Program
  • Afterschool Snacks and Afterschool Suppers
  • Summer Food Program

Center for Science in the Public Interest

• State School Foods Report Card – A State-by-State Evaluation of Policies for Foods and Beverages Sold through Vending Machines, School Stores, A La Carte, and Other Venues Outside of School Meals
• Policy Options to Promote Nutrition and Activity
• School Foods Tool Kit
• SmartMouth.org for Kids

Healthy Virginians

The Governor's Nutrition and Physical Activity Award Program – Public schools across Virginia are encouraged to implement practices that support proper nutrition and increased physical activity -- necessary ingredients for overall student health and improved academic performance...Sample Scorecard.

USDA Team Nutrition

• Local Wellness Policy - Federal requirement for local schools to establish wellness policies by the start of school year 2006 to include:
  • Goals for nutrition education, physical activity and other school- based activities that are designed to promote student wellness
  • Nutrition guidelines selected by the local educational agency for all foods available on each school campus under the local educational agency during the school day with the objectives of promoting student health and reducing childhood obesity
  • A plan for measuring implementation of the local wellness policy, including designation of 1 or more persons within the local educational agency or at each school, as appropriate, charged with operational responsibility for ensuring that the school meets the local wellness policy
  • Involvement of parents, students, and representatives of the school food authority, the school board, school administrators, and the public in the development of the school wellness policy.
• Changing the Scene: Improving the School Nutrition Environment - A tool kit that addresses the entire school nutrition environment from a commitment to nutrition and physical activity, pleasant eating experiences, quality school meals, other healthy food options, nutrition education and marketing the issue to the public.  This kit can help local people take action to improve their school's nutrition environment.  Items provided include:
  • The School Environment: Helping Students Learn to Eat Healthy (brochure)
  • Nutrition Education Goals
  • Call to Action (flyer)
• HealthierUS School Challenge - Voluntary certification process and the certification standards were established specifically for the Challenge. 
• Making It Happen! School Nutrition Success Stories - Shares stories from 32 schools and school districts that have made innovative changes to improve the nutritional quality of all foods and beverages offered and sold on school campuses. These success stories illustrate the wide variety of approaches used to improve student nutrition. The most consistent theme emerging from these case studies is that students will buy and consume healthful foods and beverages, and schools can make money from healthful options. Making It Happen! includes a variety of materials developed by some of the schools and contact information for each story.

Center for Disease Control

• Healthy Youth! - Nutrition
• Guidelines for School Health Programs to Promote Lifelong Healthy Eating - Strategies most likely to be effective in promoting healthy eating among school-age youths and nutrition education guidelines for a comprehensive school health program.
  • How You Can Help – Flyer for parents, students, teachers, school food service staff, school administrators, school board members
  • School Health Index: A Self-Assessment and Planning Guide – Self-assessment and planning tool to help improve the effectiveness of school health and safety policies and programs – Brochure.
  • Key Strategies to Prevent Obesity
  • Healthy Schools: Fit, Healthy and Ready to Learn: A School Health Policy Guide - Provides direction on establishing an overall policy framework for school health programs and specific policies on various topics.  The policy guide is organized around sample policies that reflect best practice, which can be adapted to fit local circumstances.

California Project LEAN (Leaders Encouraging Activities and Nutrition)

• School Wellness Policy Tools including:
  • CAPTIVE KIDS: SELLING OBESITY AT SCHOOLS – An Action Guide to Stop the Marketing of Unhealthy Foods and Beverages in School
  • Parents in Action - A guide to engaging parents in local school wellness policy
  • Playing the Policy Game Advocacy Guide – Tool kit designed to engage youth in the school policy process and highlights nutrition and physical activity policies that teens can pursue with adult guidance.
  • Policy in Action – A Guide to Implementing Your Local School Wellness Policy
  • Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Academic Achievement
  • Bright Ideas – Designed to showcase successful or promising examples of healthy eating and physical activity strategies that have made it easier for youth to eat healthy food and/or be physically active at school.

Center for Food and Justice (Urban and Environmental Policy Institute)

• Healthy School Food Policies: A Checklist

kinderGarden

• School Gardens

Outcomes

Various studies have reflected the vital importance of high quality school nutrition programs as a key factor in promoting the health and well-being of low-income children:

• Obesity, Food Insecurity and the Federal Child Nutrition Programs: Understanding the Linkages (FRAC)
• Report on Food Insecurity highlights importance of school meals programs (USDA)
• The Implications of Food Insecurity For Children (Feeding America)
• Investing in Children’s Cognitive Development Through Sound Nutrition Policies: The Facts About Poverty and Food Insecurity (W.K. Kellogg Foundation)