Celebrate Kids Eat Right Month with Us!
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) celebrates Kids Eat Right during the month of August. This month was created to focus on the importance of kids eating the right types of food their bodies need to grow into healthy adults. From infants to teenagers, the AND has resources and creative tools to help parents, teachers, and the community, encourage our youngest eaters to make healthy decisions. Get kid-tested and approved recipes, tips, and more for each age group!
Get involved and become a Kids Eat Right campaign member to further promote healthy eating and the prevention of childhood obesity. Kids Eat Right campaign members will have access to educational materials, reference lists, handouts, and templates free of charge, for public health projects.
 OCFS Encourages Healthy, Local Food for All Child Nutrition Programs
Kids Eat Right Month is a reminder that increasing access to healthy food for all children is important for proper growth and development. Establishing positive eating and physical activity habits at a young age, promotes a healthy body weight and connects kids to their food. These kids, who will grow into adults, will be equipped with healthy habits they can pass on for generations to come.
The Farm to School program promotes local foods and strengthens community partnerships and engagement. Bring farm to school to your child's school, day care, after-school program, or even birthday party! Teach our future generation that when you buy local foods, kids win, farmers win, and communities win!
Here are 5 Ways Schools Can Boost the Local Food Economy.
Check out these factsheets to learn more about farm to school and how to integrate these activities in many settings!
Evaluating farm to school efforts is critical in helping to identify and acknowledge the benefits these activities have on students. To learn more about evaluation methods, read the story below from LiveWell Colorado.
Interested in a national farm to school evaluation? Check out the Farm to
School Census to learn more about the impact it has on communities!
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Analyzing District Lunch Menus with LiveWell Colorado's School Food Initiative
 In April 2013, LiveWell
Colorado (LWC) partnered with the Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition
(GSCN), a public health nutrition research and evaluation center, to design and
conduct an evaluation of LiveWell’s flagship school-based program, the School
Food Initiative (SFI). The SFI works
with districts across the state to replace highly processed school lunch items
with scratch-cooked, fresh meals and enhanced salad bars.
The cornerstone of the evaluation for each cohort has been
the Quantitative Menu Analysis,
otherwise known as the QMA. The QMA is conducted at baseline and then again at
follow-up to determine how a district’s menu has shifted toward more fresh,
whole ingredients after their participation in the SFI. This is accomplished by
an in-depth review and analysis of each food item in the district’s menu cycle in
order to determine the percentage of fresh/whole ingredients used within each
component (e.g., protein, grain, produce, etc.). Each ingredient is assigned a category
based on its level of processing (fresh/whole, transitional, highly processed) as
indicated by recipes and product labels. This is guided by the use of an
ingredient rubric, which sorts all ingredients that a district may utilize into
these 3 categories. The rubric was developed by iteratively modifying an
existing LWC tool by the GSCN research team in coordination with the SFI Program Director, a registered dietitian. The current
rubric is now more aligned with school food and includes a comprehensive list
of ingredients within these 3 levels of processing.
Topics such as QMA development, cohort results, and
longitudinal cohort results have been presented at national conferences, such
as Biennial Childhood Obesity, American Evaluation Association, and American
Public Health Association, as well as published in the Journal of School Health. Additionally, results from the most recent
cohort were developed into an infographic,
which outlines the increase in the use of fresh/whole ingredients, particularly
among fresh fruits and vegetables. As a
partner in the San
Luis Valley Local Foods Coalition’s new Farm to School Grant, we look
forward to supporting the Coalition’s 14 school districts in getting more
locally grown produce out of the dirt, into the cafeteria, and on to student lunch
trays!
Upcoming Webinars and Conferences
 Partnering for More
Successful Summers: Bringing together Summer Meals, SNAP-Ed and local farmers
to better serve communities
Date: August 8th from 2:00-3:00PM EST
Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to:
- Identify
possible partnership activities between Summer Food Service, SNAP-Ed, Farm
to Summer and Farmers Markets.
- Describe
how partnerships may be developed and leveraged for program success.
- Apply the
strategies presented in the webinar to their partnership efforts.
Who Should Attend: SNAP-Ed providers and administrators, partner organizations at
State and local levels, Child Nutrition, Farmers Markets, and Summer Food
Service stakeholders, and all others interested in building and leveraging
partnerships with SNAP-Ed.
Farm to Summer
initiatives, such as serving at farmers’ markets or offering
agriculture-focused activities, can attract children and teens to summer meal
sites; however, robust programming requires thoughtful planning and strategic
partnerships. While summer meals may be ending for many sponsors across the
country, now is the perfect time to start thinking about Farm to Summer for
2018. During this webinar, discover how program operators are enhancing their programs through
partnerships with SNAP-educators
and farmers.
This webinar is free to attend but registration is
required.
Questions? Contact Lisa Mays, lisa.mays@fns.usda.gov.
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 Georgia Farm to School Summit
Date: October 5-6, 2017 in Augusta, GA
This year’s Summit welcomes farmers, teachers, early care
educators and administrators, school nutrition staff, students, parents, and
others eager to learn about about Georgia’s vibrant farm to school
movement. Connect with schools, early care centers, local farms, and
distributors to champion healthy, local meals and support farm and gardening
educational opportunities!
Register now!
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National Farm to School Network
Farm to ECE Quarterly Webinar: State Agencies as Leaders and Partners in
Growing Farm to ECE
Date: Wednesday,
August 2, 3:30 – 4:30 ET
State
agencies (including departments of agriculture, education, health) can be key
leaders and partners in facilitating growth and institutionalization of farm to
ECE at the state level. Join us to learn more about the variety of ways that
state agencies across the country are leading the way in farm to ECE.
Representatives from Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and the
South Carolina Departments of Health and Environmental Control and Social
Services will share their innovative programs and strategic approaches to
growing and supporting farm to ECE in their states. Register now!
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Kids Eat Right with Garden to Café
 Garden to Café is San Diego Unified Farm to School's favorite program! School gardens throughout the district can be certified to serve their garden-grown produce as part of their school salad bar for the National School Lunch Program. They train dedicated teachers, volunteers, community partners, and cafeteria staff who are interested in bringing the program to their school. In partnership with the County of San Diego Department of Environmental Health, they ensure the school garden meets various criteria regarding safe growing and harvesting practices. Once a school is certified, the school can begin harvesting, preparing, and serving raw garden produce in their cafeterias! Some of our favorite produce items that school gardens have served on their school salad bars are snap peas, radishes, microgreens, cheddar cauliflower, and broccoli. Students get to plant, grow, harvest, and weigh garden produce. Their harvest is delivered to the cafeteria, washed, prepped, and served, to be eaten for lunch the following day. Garden to Café is a great way for school food service departments to support school gardens, and to ensure that lessons learned in the garden about growing healthy food extend to making healthy choices in the cafeteria!
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