12.27.2013 Staff at California Food Policy Advocates look forward to welcoming the New Year and wish you the best in the coming months. 2013 proved a fruitful year for CFPA and our partners. We were successful in tackling some longstanding challenges facing low-income Californians, as well as identifying new priorities and strategies to continue our work. These efforts will help ensure a healthier California!
We are thankful for our successes, the partnerships that made them possible, and look forward to continuing our work together in 2014.
We’ve taken a few moments to reflect on the most significant milestones of 2013, including strengthening the connection between CalFresh and Medi-Cal, improving the nutrition environment in child care settings, expanding the availability of advocacy tools to limit mobile vending near schools and much more.
CalFresh
Connecting CalFresh and Medi-Cal
AB 191, signed by Governor Brown in October 2013, will improve alignment between CalFresh and Medi-Cal. This change in California law will help ensure low-income households that include a Medi-Cal recipient also receive CalFresh benefits. Together, CalFresh and Medi-Cal benefits support the overall health and well-being of Californians.
As a member of the Alliance to Transform CalFresh, CFPA worked to optimize the connection between CalFresh and health. Implementation of the Affordable Care Act presented (and continues to present) a critical opportunity to advance such efforts. As a member of the Alliance, CFPA advocated the establishment of robust statewide performance standards to measure factors such as dual CalFresh and Medi-Cal enrollment.
Mobilizing the Nutrition for LA Families Coalition
CFPA continued its work with the Nutrition for LA Families Coalition (NFLAF), a group of 15 organizations, including advocates and providers in the fields of health, child care, and nutrition. NFLAF is dedicated to improving CalFresh participation in Los Angeles (LA) County. The coalition developed and delivered a platform of recommendations to the LA Department of Social Services in July 2013. The recommendations were endorsed by 27 local partners.
Questions? Contact Kerry Birnback at 510.433.1122 ext. 110
Mobile Food Vending
Advocacy Tools to Address Mobile Food Vending at Schools
In 2013, CFPA explored the impact of mobile food vending on California’s students through a survey of California voters and a series of micro-documentaries. The micro-documentaries bring to life the struggles and successes of local communities that are fighting for healthier school environments. Visit our mobile food vending page to see advocacy tools that build the case for limiting mobile vending at schools.
Questions? Contact Tracey Patterson at 510.433.1122 ext. 101
Summer
Tracking the Summer Nutrition Gap
CFPA released our seventeenth annual report on summer nutrition. The School’s Out…Who Ate? report assessed the summer nutrition gap and identified policy changes needed to serve more children and youth throughout the state.
Questions? Contact Tia Shimada at 510.433.1122 ext. 109
REAL School Food Initiative
Prioritizing Students’ Need for Adequate Time to Eat
Responding to stakeholder input that inadequate time to eat is a barrier to student participation in school lunch, CFPA committed to better understanding this issue. We collaborated with research partners to complete multiple quantitative and qualitative assessments of students’time to eat at school. We learned that the problem is pervasive, can deter students from eating lunch at school, and is about more than just the length of lunch periods. Our findings show that a state policy solution is needed to ensure a minimum expectation that students have time to eat.
Statewide Collaboration to Implement “Smarter Lunchrooms”
Behavioral economics theory has been translated by Cornell University researchers into the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement. After receiving specialized training from Cornell staff, CFPA kicked-off the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement in California with workshops for food service professionals at three school districts in LA County, including Los Angeles Unified School District. The momentum from these efforts led to a collaboration with the California Department of Education and other partners that will bring Smarter Lunchrooms training to targeted districts statewide in 2014.
Questions? Contact Tracey Patterson at 510.433.1122 ext. 101
Child Care Nutrition
AB 290 (Alejo) Foundations for Healthy Nutrition in Child Care
In October 2013, Governor Brown signed AB 290, a CFPA-sponsored bill titled Foundations for the Healthy Nutrition in Child Care. By January 2016, individuals seeking child care licensure in California will be required to take a preventive health and safety training that includes content on early childhood nutrition and the benefits of the Child and Adult Care Food Program. AB 290 is an important step to ensuring California’s children in child care are receiving healthy meals and snacks.
Healthy Beverages in Child Care
CFPA, along with our partners at UC Berkeley’s Atkins Center for Weight and Health and the Samuels Center, released a policy brief highlighting our research on healthy beverages in child care and related policy recommendations. The research indicates that the beverages served in California child care settings significantly improved after the implementation of the Healthy Beverages law (AB 2084).
The State Action Plan for CACFP
In response to a decade-long decrease of CACFP Day Care Home (DCH) Sponsors in Los Angeles County, CFPA and the Child Care Food Program Roundtable developed a series of recommendations for the California Department of Education, Nutrition Services Division (NSD). The NSD responded with a willingness to collaborate and a renewed commitment to supporting CACFP DCH Sponsors. Together we developed an action plan that outlines the NSD’s future improvements.
Changing Child Care Nutrition in Los Angeles County
Los Angeles Reducing Obesity in Child Care Settings, also known as Eat, Play, Grow (EPG), is a unique partnership in LA County between the region’s ten child care resource and referral agencies. The goal of EPG is to provide trainings to child care providers that will improve the nutritional quality of food served to children in child care and increase physical activity in child care settings. CFPA was instrumental in ensuring that promotion of the Child and Adult Care Food Program was included in the EPG curriculum.
Questions? Contact Elyse Homel-Vitale at 510.433.1122 ext. 206
Water in Schools
Turning on the Tap to Implement Water Laws
Throughout 2013, CFPA continued to generate excitement and support for the implementation of both the state and federal water requirements. CFPA presented at the Childhood Obesity Conference and the Los Angeles Food Policy Forum, testified in support of a City of Los Angeles motion to revitalize free drinking water in public spaces, and through comments on the Smart Snacks in Schools rule, urged USDA to set clear guidance on how schools and state agencies can assess the availability of free drinking water and encourage consumption. Water is calorie-free and sugar-free — and best of all, it is free at your nearest tap!
Questions? Contact Ariana Oliva at 213.482.8200 ext. 203
Breakfast
Expanding Breakfast in the Classroom
2013 was a great year for students benefiting from Breakfast in the Classroom. In Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), 144 schools implemented the service model, joining 288 LAUSD schools that kicked off Breakfast in the Classroom last year. Other school districts, such as Inglewood Unified School District and El Monte City School District, also joined the movement to bring breakfast to more students. CFPA provided essential support to advancing the breakfast improvements in these districts.
Questions? Contact Tia Shimada at 510.433.1122 ext. 109
Research & Data
New County Nutrition & Food Insecurity Profiles
CFPA released a new, web-based iteration of the County Nutrition and Food Insecurity Profiles. These profiles provide state and local data on food insecurity, poverty, nutrition, and health. Thanks to the web-based design of the profiles, they can now be updated as soon as new data become available.
Questions? Contact Tia Shimada at 510.433.1122 ext. 109
