August 2004 E-Newsletter

Healthy Schools Campaign Activities

School Food Coalition
July 22nd, organizations supportive of nutritional standards for competive foods met to discuss past efforts to improve school nutrition and to begin to lay the groundwork for strategies for the future. There was agreement among the participants that there was a greater need to coordinate the efforts towards improving student health through school nutrition and physical activity. From this meeting, HSC will be develop recommendations for the group and will follow up in September. For more information contact Mark Bishop at mark@healthyschoolscampaign.org.

Congratulations El Paso / Gridley School District
Farm-to-school programs provide a unique opportunity to create lifelong fruit and vegetable consumers among children and also support independent farmers who practice sustainable agriculture. The Campaign is working with targeted communities in Illinois to develop local farm-to-school demonstration projects. To that end, El Paso/Gridley School District #11 in Central Illinois recently placed an order with a local grower, and fresh produce will be incorporated into school meals this fall! The Campaign will work to provide continued support for this effort. Contact Camille Reid at Camille@healthyschoolscampaign.org for more information.

Midwest Farm to School Conference
The Healthy Schools Campaign recently co-sponsoered a gathering of farm-to-school supporters in the the Upper Midwest. The event was organized by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy’s Midwest Farm to School (FTS) Conference and proivded a great opportunity for folks in the Upper Midwest to share information and discuss challenges common to efforts in this region. Two outcomes of the meeting will be the creation of a FTS Learning Community to facilitate information exchange among various agencies, and the establishment of a more unified national network of FTS programs.

For more information on Farm to School programs contact Camille Reid at Camille@healthyschoolscampaign.org.

American School Food Service Association Conference (ASFSA)
Camille Reid, HSC Food Policy Director, participated at the 2004 ASFSA Conference. A large portion of the conference this year was dedicated to the themes of improving school nutrition. New research in child nutrition and nutrition education was highlighted as vendors across the country showcased their healthy vending machine alternatives and the USDA announced their soon to be released toolkit “Making Things Happen”, which highlights success stories of schools who have implemented healthy competitive food policies.

IL NET and Northern Illinois University partnered to survey all school districts in Illinois about competitive foods. The most compelling finding was that both principals and food service directors favored a district or school-wide policy setting nutrition standards for all foods at school. Information on the IL NET survey can be found at their website at www.kidseatwell.com. For more information on the ASFSA conference, information about healthy vending products, or for more detail on competitive food issues, contact Camille Reid at Camille@healthyschoolscampaign.org.

Congratulations Perspectives Charter School!
When Perspectives Charter School opens their new school in September they will be operating under a new school policy that offers healthy food choices, nutrition education and increased physical activity. Many thanks to HSC Intern Dima Simaan, who has been helping them prepare for the new school year.

2004 American School Health Association (ASHA) Summer Institute
On August 3-6, HSC participated in the 2004 ASHA Summer Institute: Developing Powerful Partnerships for Successful, Healthy Students at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA. Attendees focused on strategies for creating health-promoting schools and communities that support student success. Participants engaged in skill-building sessions for improving coordinated school health programs including: health services, nutrition, physical education and physical activity, mental health, and health education in schools and communities.

For more information about the American School Health Association and future conferences, please visit: www.ashaweb.org

HSC Staff Changes
Healthy Schools Campaign has two recent changes in our staff.

On July 8th, Mark Bishop was promoted to Deputy Director of the Healthy Schools Campaign. While still responsible for directing HSC’s state policy, Mark’s new responsibilities will include taking a greater role providing direction and leadership for the overall Campaign and increased involvement in fundraising. Congratulations Mark! Mark can be contacted at mark@healthyschoolscampaign.org

On August 9th, the Campaign hired Guillermo Gomez as our new Chicago Director. Guillermo has extensive management experience in service-oriented organizations in underserved minority communities. His experience includes program implementation and grant management, as well as community-based research, educational policy, adult education, public transportation and health services at both the city and state-wide level. Please welcome Guillermo to our staff. He can be contacted at ggomez@healthyschoolscampaign.org.

• One-third of all public schools are in need of extensive repair or replacement
• The average public school building is 42 years old
• 14 million students attend schools that need major repair or replacement
• The American Society of Civil Engineers found that school facilities were in worse condition than any other part of our nation’s infrastructure

We need better funding for better and healthier schools. For more information, please CLICK HERE.

School Finance Reform - A+ Illinois

Illinois education is in crisis: the State of Illinois is failing to give our children and schools what they deserve.

But there are solutions, and what we need are the political will and courage to move forward with them – now. A+ Illinois is a statewide campaign comprised of groups of individuals committed to real reform in the quality and funding of public education in Illinois.

Add your voice to the growing thousands demanding change now! Log onto www.aplusillinois.org or call 866-APLUS-IL (866-275-8745) to learn more about what you can do.

Take a crucial step to improve education by joining A+ Illinois. Together we’ll send our state leaders a message that shorter school days, overcrowded classrooms and unhealthy school environments are NOT acceptable.