The Indianapolis community knows first hand how obesity and hunger are linked. 40 percent of children in the city are overweight or obese, but at the same time 1 in 5 people in Indianapolis don't know where their next meal will come from. A group of city nonprofits want to change that by forming the Indy Food Council. Similar to councils in other cities, the Indy Food Council will act as a governing body for the city’s food system, addressing persistent problems, such as food deserts in the urban areas, plus capitalizing on opportunities for economic development. The council hopes to bring together folks who are already trying to bring better food into neighborhoods, like food banks, urban garden advocates, health officials and academics. The Indy Food Council, with its board of 18 to ...
Healthy Living Matters (HLM), a childhood obesity prevention collaborative, has committed to curbing obesity in the Houston/Harris County area by using policy action to make healthier changes in communities. Made up of a handful of local leaders and professionals, HLM engages youth as change-agents in their communities. After empowering the youth to assess current food access and built environment within their Houston/Harris County neighborhoods, they hope to educate at-risk communities on what can be done to make healthy living easier. HLM continuously monitors federal, state and local policy trends that impact childhood obesity. By year two, they hope to put out a Community Action Plan, which will serve as a roadmap for policy implementation. While HLM hopes to affect environmental ...
Houston Independent School District (HISD) in Texas is further addressing the growing issue of childhood obesity by creating a well rounded wellness policy. "The new Houston ISD wellness policy, currently being drafted by the School Health Advisory Council [SHAC], will directly address the use of food as a classroom reward (as well the equally distressing use of exercise as a punishment)." says Bettina Siegel, author of the blog The Lunch Tray The USDA has been increasing policies on school foods and competitive foods, by making nutrition standards for school meals in the past, and are currently creating standards for competitive foods in school snack lines. However schools or districts themselves must take the next steps in changing their policies on standards for fundraisers, ...
According to a news article from The Reporter, health advocacy groups are working with state policy makers in Pennsylvania to develop legislation that would create a specific fund to support the construction of walking and bike trails. Groups like the Mission: Readiness organization---an organization of retired military leaders---are concerned that childhood obesity has become an issue of national security and have called on state lawmakers to develop a comprehensive transportation plan that would include active modes of transportation. The news story reports that legislators plan on proposing a whole sales tax on fuel sold to gas stations to support the development of trails. They are hoping that this tax would help raise between $2.5 billion and $2.8 billion a year for new ...
Georgia is no stranger to the connection between hunger and obesity. Many low-income residents live in areas that have no grocery store close by but boast a variety of fast food joints, and rates of childhood obesity in those areas are high. Following the lead of many states and cities nationwide, Georgia has created the Georgia Supermarket Access Task Force, led by The Food Trust and Voices for Georgia’s Children. The task force has been meeting with key stakeholders, such as grocers and those in public health and agriculture, to talk about ways to get stores with fresh, healthy produce back into these areas. Check out the task force's work here! One great success story in the area is the Veggie Truck Farmers' Market, a weekly produce truck that accepts nutrition assistance and ...
The City of San Antonio is in the process of developing a new snack vending contract and have incorporated the Healthy Vending Guidelines into the contract. In 2002, the Health Collaborative developed and launched the “Fit City Healthy Vending Guidelines” which guided San Antonio’s healthy vending efforts for nearly a decade. In 2011 the Health Collaborative and the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District came together to update and strengthen the guidelines in response to increasing obesity and diabetes rates throughout the community. They engaged a coalition of community and public health experts, dietitians, and food distributors to design the new “San Antonio Healthy Vending Guidelines”. The new guidelines include a set of specific nutrition criteria; as well as ...
Introduced in 2011 as part of the Farm Bill, this act makes changes across a wide spectrum of food and farm policies to: promote small, beginning and sustainable farmers; expand local and institutional markets for growers; increase access to local and healthier food options, particularly for low-income populations; remove or reduce barriers to the purchase of locally grown and produced food by federal nutrition programs; and more. Some aspects of the bill have been incorporated in the House and/or Senate versions of the pending farm bill. Learn more about the Local Farms, Food, and Jobs ...
The Los Angeles Food Policy Council (LAFPC) has set exciting policy targets for 2012-2013. The purpose of the food policy council is to bring together leaders from across sectors, geographies, and socioeconomic communities to build new relationships and to strengthen, facilitate, and coordinate change. LAFPC is a collective impact initiative, working to make Southern California a Good Food region for everyone where food is healthy, affordable, fair and sustainable. LAFPC calls for a number of polices that would increase the number of healthy food retail outlets in underserved areas. They support policies that transform neighborhood markets and convenience stores in South and East Los Angeles into healthy food retailers. They also support policies that authorize street food vending in ...
Green Carts are mobile food carts that offer fresh produce in certain New York City areas. Local Law 9, signed by Mayor Bloomberg on March 13, 2008, establishes 1,000 permits for Green Carts. The purpose of Green Carts are to bring fresh, healthy produce to areas around the city that don't have access to healthy food, with customers being able to pay with SNAP benefits. Read more about NYC's Green Carts and efforts to bring them to areas in other big cities that have limited fresh food ...
