Healthy Schools Campaign

Happy, Healthy Holiday Celebrations!

Students jump for joy in a healthy celebration at this summer's Parent Leadership Institute.

It’s time for holiday celebrations -- at school, at home, in community centers and, it seems, everywhere we turn!

As part of HSC’s Fit to Learn professional development program, we work with teachers to create classroom experiences that support wellness, from daily lessons to special occasions. But how can we celebrate without unhealthy treats? It's easier, and more fun, than you might think! This fall, we heard lots of creative ideas from Fit to Learn teachers for celebrating Halloween in healthy ways. Now, we’re thinking about healthy holidays! Check out these tips from Fit to Learn facilitators Rosa Ramirez and Kristi Cox:

One of the easiest ways to make positive childhood memories is by creating holiday traditions. Whether they are old traditions or new ones you create, students will learn to look forward to them.  Here are some fun, health-inspired ideas for holiday traditions:

• Holiday Card-Making Party! Encourage students to share their creativity. Consider giving awards for most beautiful, creative, etc.
• Snowball Sweep! Divide the gym or a large, open room in half with cones or tape. Divide students into two teams and provide each team with soft balls of varying size (even cotton!) for them to toss onto the other side. (The goal is to throw the ball into the other team’s area, not at other team members!) Each team tries to keep their side clear of “snowballs” by continually throwing them to the opposite side.
• Spoken Word Holiday Poetry Slam! Students work in groups to create and perform poems (or songs) about holiday themes.
• Gift-Stacking Relay! Wrap a few boxes of varying sizes and create a fun holiday race! Stack three gifts on top of each other. Each team must take the stack of gifts from one end point (such as a chair) to the other end point without dropping any gifts. Then, the next person must pick up the gifts and take them back to the other end without dropping any! If the gifts fall, then the person must go back to their starting point and begin again.
• Dance the Santa Shuffle! What is the Santa Shuffle? Have the students create the dance moves  in groups of four, then bring them all together to do the shuffle.

Combine all these activities and more for your own unique holiday party.  There is no right or wrong when it comes to healthy traditions!

Looking for more ideas? Check out this tip sheet  [pdf] in the Go for the Gold resource center.

Parent Leaders Play Key Role in Schools' Wellness Achievements

On Dec. 2, Parents United for Healthy Schools/Padres Unidos para Escuelas Saludables hosted the sixth Principals’ Breakfast for Healthy Schools, a gathering of parents and principals to exchange ideas, celebrate successes and connect around the shared goal of promoting wellness in schools. Parents United is an HSC-led coalition of parent and community organizations dedicated to bringing opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity to Chicago schools, particularly schools in Latino and African-American communities facing significant health disparities. This year, the breakfast celebrated the success of parent leaders whose efforts made it possible for their schools to achieve the HealthierUS School Challenge through Go for the Gold. 

Today, we are happy to share the remarks that Rosa Ramirez, HSC’s Go for the Gold campaign manager, delivered at the principals’ breakfast. Kudos to all the parent leaders who are making change! 

Rosa Ramirez, Go for the Gold campaign manager, addresses parents and principals at the Principals' Breakfast for Healthy Schools

As campaign manager of Go for the Gold, I get to see and meet all kinds of great people and organizations helping schools become healthier places. 

I am so impressed with everyone’s enthusiasm and commitment to bringing change to our schools. Especially, I am impressed by parents’ and families’ openness to healthy changes and their determination to make sure their children grow up healthy and ready to learn, and gain lifetime skills to help them make healthy choices. 

In February of 2010 – almost two years ago — First Lady Michelle Obama and her Let’s Move Campaign sounded an alarm helping our country wake up to the reality that “the physical and emotional health of an entire generation is at stake." And she set a bold vision, one that I think we all full-heartedly believe in: that “every kid has a right to a healthy childhood.” 

Two years ago we asked Chicago – parents, teachers, elected officials, principals and community members — to help us make Chicago schools healthier places. We set an ambitious goal of having 100 schools be certified through the HealthierUS School Challenge (a USDA program that the First Lady is urging schools to join) in three years.  We are in the middle of year two and we are happy to report that about 30 schools have been certified under the First Lady’s program, with close to twenty additional schools recently turning in their applications to be certified and awaiting their approval. 

The accomplishments of more than half of these schools can be credited to the hard work of parents!

Parents have led the way to figuring out how to really make wellness a priority, despite the challenges in our schools. When we announced this goal, parents immediately stepped up to the plate determined to not let their children be the first generation in history to grow up less healthy than their parents. 

Now, I simply want to lift up the amazing work parents across the city have done day in and day out to help their schools be healthier while simultaneously re-thinking some of their own practices at home. 

Parents have teamed up with other parents, principals and community organizations to help move their school to be healthier. This includes implementing healthy fundraisers, bringing back recess, organizing healthy cooking clubs, creating a trusting relationship with the principal, scheduling weekly fitness classes or health fairs, and most importantly modeling healthy behavior. For example, parents have chosen to only serve healthy food at their school meetings. Little things add up to big change.  In this process, parents are changing their own habits and are role models for their own families and others in the community. 

All this work is very challenging but is also very rewarding! All this positive work that is centered on our schools is also transforming our homes and communities to be healthier places. And that’s what it’s all about – creating healthy places to give our children an opportunity to grow up healthy and ready to learn.  Thank you so much to the parents for all their hard work and dedication. 

Parent leaders celebrate at the Principals' Breakfast for Healthy Schools

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Como gerente de la campaña de Vamos por el Oro, llego a conocer a todo tipos de personas y organizaciones que ayudan a las escuelas a ser más saludables y también ver los logros que alcanzan.

Estoy muy impresionado con el entusiasmo y el compromiso de todos a llevar cambio a nuestras escuelas. Sobre todo, estoy  muy impresionado con el compromiso de los padres y su determinación para asegurarse de que sus hijos crezcan sanos, listos para aprender, y una capacidad para tomar decisiones saludables.

En febrero de 2010-hace casi dos años-la primera dama Michelle Obama con su Campaña ¡A moverse! sonó una alarma despertándonos  a la realidad de que la salud física y emocional de nuestros niños-- toda una generación está en peligro. Ella tiene una meta,  una que  yo creo con todos apoyamos con todo corazón y esta meta es que "todo niño tenga derecho a una niñez sana y saludable".  

Hace dos años le pedimos a Chicago-padres, maestros, el acalde y funcionarios públicos, directores y miembros de la comunidad-que nos ayuden a hacer las escuelas de Chicago más saludables. Nos dimos una meta ambiciosa de tener 100 escuelas con la certificación de escuela saludables en tres años. Ahorita estamos en  año numero dos  y estamos felices de informar que cerca de 30 escuelas han sido certificadas bajo el programa de la Primera Dama , y cerca de veinte escuelas an cumplido con sus aplicaciones para ser certificados y están en espera de su aprobación.

Llos logros de más de la mitad de estas escuelas no habría sido posible sin el arduo trabajo de los padres! 

Simplemente quiero apreciar el trabajo y empeño increíble de los padres. A pesar de las condiciones que existan en nuestras escuelas, los padres han abierto el camino para que las escuelas hagan el bienestar y la salud una prioridad. 

Ellos día tras día se han unido con otros padres y organizaciones de la comunidad para traer recursos a sus escuelas y han trabajado juntos con los directores de las escuelas a llevar a cambio sus metas.  Los padres se han dedicado hacer cambios chiquitos y grandes como eligiendo a servir solamente alimentos frescos y saludables en las juntas de la escuela, o lanzar iniciativas para recuperar el recreo, organizar clubes de cocina saludable, programando clases de ejercicio, y an cambiando la manera de recaudar fondos de dulces a cosas saludables y muchas cosas más. En este proceso, los padres también han cambiando y con sus propios ejemplos saludables ahora también están transformando los hábitos de sus familias. 

Todo este trabajo es muy exigente pero también es muy gratificante! Lo más importante de todo este trabajo positivo ocurriendo adentro  de nuestras escuelas es que también están  transformando nuestros hogares y comunidades para lo mas saludables. Y de eso se trata --  a crear lugares saludables para que nuestros niños tengan la oportunidad de crecer sanos y listos para aprender.  Muchas Gracias por su ayuda y apoyo en esta campana para escuelas saludables –de verdad reconocemos su gran esfuerzo y trabajo.

Chicago principals are recognized at the Principals' Breakfast for promoting health and wellness at school

Go for the Gold at the White House: Parents, Teachers, Principals Honored for School Wellness Achievements

by Rosa Ramirez, Go for the Gold campaign manager

Last week, I was honored to join parents, teachers, principals and one very excited student on a visit to our nation’s capital, where these champions for wellness were recognized by First Lady Michelle Obama for leading their schools to meet the HealthierUS School Challenge, a cornerstone of her Let’s Move initiative.

Chicago parents, teachers and principals on their way to the White House

Since the beginning of last year, I have worked with leaders at schools across Chicago to address the challenges that schools face in meeting high standards for healthy eating, physical activity and nutrition education as part of the Go for the Gold campaign. Go for the Gold is HSC’s partnership with Chicago Public Schools, with the USDA Midwest and Illinois State Board of Education, to support schools in meeting the HealthierUS School Challenge.

I’ve been continually impressed with the creativity and persistence that these individuals have brought to the task. The person who takes the lead in each school varies: it is sometimes a parent, sometimes a teacher, sometimes the principal. But these individuals share a commitment to making change and a real understanding that wellness is central to students’ learning and achievement. They share an ability to bring others into this effort and connect their schools with resources that can make this type of change a reality. That is why I was so thrilled to see their hard work recognized brilliantly by the First Lady herself.

These school leaders -- along with their counterparts across the nation -- were invited to a special celebration at the White House recognizing schools that met the challenge during the 2010-11 school year. There was such a sense of excitement that carried throughout this day, a sense that these leaders are now bringing back to their schools and communities.

Our delegation from Chicago Public Schools traveled to Washington, DC (thanks to a generous donation of tickets from Southwest Airlines) and made our first stop at the U.S. Department of Education. There, senior education policy staff met with parents, principals and teachers to share their congratulations and engage in a discussion about ways to integrate wellness initiatives into school evaluation.

Alex Roman, a sixth-grade student at Walsh Elementary, was the star of our group as we headed to the White House for the celebration. There, he read his story of school wellness to the assembled group of more than 2,000 leaders from across the nation and had the honor of introducing First Lady Michelle Obama!

We’ve heard so much about White House food and fitness initiatives over the past year and it was amazing to see these first-hand. We saw the White House bee hive, displays of apples and chefs preparing some impressive eggplants from the garden. I was also excited to see so many of the national leaders who have supported HSC’s efforts, including Audrey Rowe, Administrator for the Food and Nutrition Service at the USDA and Dr. Janey Thornton, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services.

Jovita Flores, HSC manager of Parents United for Healthy Schools (second from right) with Chicago school wellness leaders

The First Lady’s remarks at this event made everyone there feel proud and simply very appreciated. She and the White House staff made it clear that these parents, teachers and principals are leading the way for a healthier nation of students and are making Let’s Move a reality on the ground. I was thrilled to see these local leaders recognized at this level, and happy to meet their counterparts across the nation. Seeing so many people who are making real change for wellness in their schools was inspiring and heartening. I know that as these leaders bring their excitement and the lessons they’ve learned to even more schools, we will see an important shift for wellness in schools across the country.

Congratulations to the parents, teachers and principals who are making change for wellness at school! I invite you to check out First Lady Michelle Obama’s remarks in this video from the White House:

Go for the Gold: Exciting Achievements in 2010!

by Rosa Ramirez

photos: Chef in the Classroom day, Oct. 2010

Happy holidays! As students across Chicago prepare for their winter break, we are taking a moment to reflect on an incredibly exciting year for the Go for the Gold campaign. 

With the incredible support of parents, teachers, school leaders and advocates, Go for the Gold has made big strides this year and we are eager to accomplish even more in 2011. Since the launch of the Go for the Gold campaign, parents, principals, teachers, local chefs and many community partners have come together to support schools in meeting the HealthierUS School Challenge.

In 2010, Chicago Public Schools became the first major school district in the US to declare school menu nutrition standards that meet and exceed the gold standard of the HealthierUS School challenge. This means that more than 400,000 students are trying different fresh vegetables, eating whole grains and seeing other positive changes daily. With new food in place, schools are now focusing their efforts on meeting the high standards for nutrition education and physical activity outlined in the HealthierUS School Challenge.

Local chefs are taking their skills and love of food to the classroom to share healthy eating lessons with students. To read more about this initiative, click here. Teachers are learning about healthy classroom management practices, integrating nutrition education and fitness into classroom lessons. Parent groups are participating in school wellness teams, advocating for positive changes and learning new skills for healthy cooking at home.

Most recently, principals from 15 Chicago Public Schools (CPS) presented their applications for the HealthierUS Challenge, the cornerstone program of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative to reverse childhood obesity.The presentation of HealthierUS School applications by Chicago school principals marks a milestone in the tireless work of community leaders and school administrators to achieve the high standards for school wellness that support such an application.

The national momentum for health and wellness -- and this incredible enthusiasm at the local level -- are invigorating. Thank you to everyone who is part of Go for the Gold!

Go for the Gold Resource Spotlight: Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children

By Rosa Ramirez, Go for the Gold Campaign Manager

In August, HSC helped kick off the Go for the Gold Campaign, a partnership between Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and HSC with the USDA Midwest and the Illinois State Board of Education to help Chicago schools meet the high standards for food, fitness and nutrition education set by the USDA’s HealthierUS School Challenge. The HealthierUS School Challenge is the program that First Lady Michelle Obama is urging schools to take on as part of her Let's Move initiative.

Today we're pleased to highlight the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC), one great resource to help schools meet this challenge.

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"Our goal is to confront the childhood obesity epidemic by promoting healthy and active lifestyles for children throughout out Chicago," says Anna Barnes, schools program coordinator for CLOCC.

CLOCC works to do just that by fostering and facilitating connections between various school stakeholders including children, families, school administrators, public health advocates, and communities.

 The cornerstone message of CLOCC's public education campaign is 5-4-3-2-1 Go!

It stands for: Five servings of fruits and vegetables a day; four servings of water a day; three servings of low-fat dairy a day; two hours or less of screen time a day; and one hour or more of physical activity a day.

Flyers, presentations, and fact sheets are available for schools, community organizations, churches and others to use, either alone or integrated into existing programs. A list of existing free or low-cost curricula that align with the message is available on the website. This type of messaging helps schools provide nutrition education through multiple channels, a key part of the HealthierUS School Challenge. To learn more about 5-4-3-2-1 Go! and upcoming training opportunities, please click here.

CLOCC spearheads six working groups open to educators, policymakers, practitioners and the public that focus on different aspects of childhood obesity prevention from policy to a community’s built environment (the physical structures within a community). In particular, the school systems working group serves as a resource to schools and school administrators as they promote increased physical activity and improved nutrition in schools.

A major initiative of the school systems working group is the Healthy Teacher Network, a forum to assist and empower teachers in their efforts to create a healthy school environment. By offering professional development workshops for school staff, teachers earn professional development credits, connect with service providers that offer free or low-cost programs to Chicago schools, and most importantly, participants become role models for other educators looking to address obesity prevention in their schools. To learn how to get involved, please click here.

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Throughout the school year, CLOCC offers a variety of resources that help schools Go for the Gold! To learn more about CLOCC, visit www.clocc.net.

To learn more about the Go for the Gold Campaign,  click here.

Go for the Gold Resource Spotlight: Purple Asparagus

by Rosa Ramirez, Go for the Gold Campaign Manager

Dedicated to bringing families back to the table by promoting and enjoying all the things associated with good eating, the nonprofit Purple Asparagus is a key partner in the Go for the Gold campaign.  Since 2005, Purple Asparagus has worked with a range of organizations on programs that focus on healthy eating for children and their families.

Now, Purple Asparagus is lending its nutrition education expertise to Chicago area chefs who are preparing for the Oct. 4 Chef in the Classroom Day, a program that connects chefs with Chicago public schools. Through the program, chefs will visit an elementary classroom to share fun lessons on healthy eating. Purple Asparagus is helping the chefs, who are already stars in the kitchen, gear up to shine in the classroom as well.

Purple Asparagus founding president Melissa Graham explains that the organization helps strengthen family and community ties, supports farmers and producers, fosters respect for the earth and the diversity of cultures all over it, and passes on important traditions to the next generation.

Throughout the school year, Purple Asparagus offers a popular and well-received series of Healthy Snacks Workshops. In the workshops schoolchildren learn good eating habits and how to make simple, healthy snacks and meals. Purple Asparagus is planning to expand to additional schools in the 2010-11 school year and is actively seeking new volunteers and schools.  To learn more or get involved, click here.   

Purple Asparagus also convenes a coalition of child nutrition and school food advocates called Growing Healthy Kids. The coalition makes possible collaborative efforts to improve the health of Chicago's children such as creating health fairs open to parents, teachers, and administrators. 

To learn more about Purple Asparagus, click here.

Have kids at your school participated in an innovative nutrition education program? We’d love to hear about what’s working for you!

Go for the Gold: Chicago Comes Together for Healthier Schools

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Photos by Tell Draper

by Rosa Ramirez, Go for the Gold Campaign Manager

On August 17, HSC celebrated with more than 250 guests the launch of the Go for the Gold Campaign. Attendees included Audrey Rowe, USDA Deputy Administrator for Special Nutrition Projects, who visited Chicago to learn about the city’s initiatives in response to First Lady Michelle Obama’s call to reverse childhood obesity in a generation. Rowe, who was appointed to her post by President Obama, said that from her perspective, “Chicago is a national model.” This simple praise marks a real milestone in our work for school wellness and is a testament to the community’s and CPS’s journey to make schools healthier places.

The Go for the Gold campaign, a partnership between Chicago Public Schools, HSC, and the USDA Midwest, forms a crucial part of that journey, helping CPS schools meet the high standards for food, fitness and nutrition education set by the USDA’s HealthierUS School Challenge.

It was exciting to see so many people at the launch event express their commitment to support schools in this goal:  students from the Mikva Challenge Teen Health Council committed to urging their classmates and high school principals to welcome health-promoting changes while Mary Richardson-Lowry, president of the CPS board of education, voiced a top-level commitment to healthy change. 

Terry Mazany, CEO of the Chicago Community Trust and Karen Atwood, President of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, will lead a civic and business advisory committee dedicated to engaging even more leaders from across the city in supporting schools as they work to meet this challenge.

With the excitement of this launch and the strong, diverse group it brought together, I am excited for the school year to begin so even more schools can benefit from the strength of this community support. I am confident that Go for the Gold will bring about changes for the health and well-being for our kids.

Stay posted for updates!

How Will Public Policy Strategies to Reverse Childhood Obesity Address Health Disparities in Communities of Color?

by Rosa Ramirez, Go for the Gold Campaign Manager

Parent advocates discuss strategy at Parents United for Healthy Schools training

The epidemic of childhood obesity is, for the first time, a major topic of national conversation. And big strides are being taken in understanding the causes and implications of childhood obesity.  As we move forward as a nation and craft public policy to address this epidemic, it is important that we keep in mind the great disparities that exist in obesity rates, particularly in Latino and African-American communities, and that we look to existing initiatives that have been successful in combating childhood obesity in communities of color.

The Center for American Progress, a non-profit non-partisan research organization, released a memo earlier this month urging lawmakers to develop and implement public policy strategies that tackle childhood obesity disparities among minorities head-on.

In the memo, Sonia Sekhar puts the health disparities in childhood obesity in context: 

The prevalence of childhood obesity has risen among all racial and ethnic subgroups over the years, but the growth has been more pronounced for communities of color. Childhood obesity rates of African Americans and Hispanics increased by about 120 percent between 1986 and 1998, but among non-Hispanic whites it grew by 50 percent.. . . Allowing this problem to continue to grow at its current pace will have dire economic, social, and public health consequences, including lower life expectancy in the 21st century. With the Census projecting that minorities will make up more than half of the U.S. population by 2050, the disparity in obesity rates among African Americans, Hispanics, and whites has profound implications for the nation’s health, not to mention the billions of dollars it could add to our nation’s health care costs.

Sekhar argues that addressing these disparities must be a specific and central element of public policy efforts to change the course of the obesity epidemic.

"Approaches that ignore the factors that influence obesity rates in Hispanic and black communities will only have marginal effects on reducing its prevalence," she writes.

Leaders in Washington, DC are taking important strides to combat childhood obesity and are laying significant groundwork: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the First Lady’s Let’s Move Initiative, the recommendations of the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity Report, efforts to reform school food and much more. 

Yet, as Sekhar explains, we need to focus attention to specifically addressing racial and ethnic disparities in obesity to overcome the health disparities that plague our communities. As we do so, we can learn from successful examples on the ground.

In Chicago, we've seen that parents and community members can be powerful catalysts for school-based change to promote health in communities of color. 

Parent activists involved in Parents United for Healthy Schools/Padres Unidos para Escuelas Saludables, an HSC-led coalition of more than 40 community organizations and parent groups from low-income African-American and Latino communities, have steadily been making changes in schools and throughout neighborhoods.

Since 2006, hundreds of parents have graduated from HSC’s four-day parent training program resulting in a strong community base that is actively promoting healthy changes in more than sixty Chicago Public Schools and helping lead 35 school wellness teams. Parents collected 4,000 petitions in support of recess and  presented them to the Chicago Board of Education, advocated for improved school nutrition standards at the district level and have been successful in incorporating food and fitness goals in their local schools' School Improvement Plans.

These efforts mean that children in low-income Latino and African-American communities facing health disparities and high rates of childhood obesity now have more access to healthy food and physical activity at school. At the same time, many of the parents and community members involved have transformed their own lifestyles to include more healthy eating and physical activity. 

Community-based strategies such as those that are working in Chicago and across the country can be an effective and important part of our nation's strategy to reverse childhood obesity in a generation. National leaders must recognize the racial and ethnic disparities in obesity; equally important is the need to raise awareness of the strategies that are successful in reversing them.

"A more highly targeted effort is needed to address the gaping racial and ethnic disparities that exist in this realm," Sekhar writes. "Considering the groundwork laid by both the health reform law and the Let’s Move initiative with the Presidential Task Force on Obesity, tackling obesity within a generation—especially among racial and ethnic minority populations—is certainly within our reach."

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Chicago Comes Together to Meet Michelle Obama's Healthy Schools Challenge

By Rosa Ramirez

HSC is excited to see Chicago emerge as a national leader in promoting school food and fitness. Chicken-vegetable jambalaya, cucumber salad, locally grown corn, Cobb salad, hummus sandwiches, jalapeno cornbread, apples and oranges were among the many delicious and good-for-you items Chicago and Illinois elected officials taste-tested in May at the CPS School Food Premiere, held at McAuliffe Elementary School. Elected officials were invited to attend this lunch featuring school food that all students at Chicago Public Schools (CPS) will be offered for lunch at the start of 2010-2011 school year.

CPS's exciting menu changes are part of a larger city-wide initiative, the Go for the Gold Campaign. In February of 2010, CPS declared its commitment to meeting Michelle Obama’s call to curb childhood obesity through the HealthierUS School Challenge by announcing a school meal program that will meet and exceed the Gold Standard of the challenge. This means CPS school meals will offer more whole grains, a different vegetable every day, more dark green or orange vegetables, and breakfast items that do not contain “dessert or candy-type” ingredients or flavors, among other changes. The revamped menus are one part of the challenge. Next, schools will need help increasing opportunities for physical education and physical activity as well as nutrition education -- the cornerstones of the HealthierUS School Challenge.

Key leaders and organizations across Chicago are stepping forward to be part of the Go for the Gold Campaign, including local elected officials. Chicago Aldermen LaTasha Thomas (17th Ward) and Edward Burke (14th Ward) initiated a City Council resolution in support of healthy school food in April of 2010. Other supporters include Alderman Ariel Reboyares (30th Ward) who worked alongside McAuliffe Elementary Principal David Pino to help re-introduce recess back into the school day by simplifying the rezoning process and other hurdles. Additionally, Alderman Rey Colón (35th Ward) has been instrumental in creating health-promoting urban spaces and access to healthy, affordable food in his ward with bikeways and farmers markets in the neighborhood.

With city-level support, district-wide school food and recess initiatives, the hard work of local civic and political leaders and support for school wellness from the White House and Congress, Chicago is coming together to meet the challenge of providing healthy school environments for all children. To learn more about the Go for the Gold Campaign, and how you can participate, click here.

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Hunger, Obesity and Learning: Making the Connection to Social Justice

By Rosa Ramirez, HSC Policy & Outreach Coordinator

 

Robert Hunter, in his 1904 book, Poverty, wrote that hunger interferes with learning and healthy development and consequently perpetuates the cycle of poverty. More than a hundred years later, child nutrition advocates continue to echo a similar sentiment: hungry children can’t learn. Cognitive and physical difficulties due to hunger can lead to lower levels of education and thus limited opportunities.

It’s hard to imagine hungry children in the United States, especially given our country’s high obesity rates for both adults and children. Janet Poppendieck, author of Free for All: Fixing School Food in America, poses this question: “When we talk about hungry children, what do we really mean?” She argues that hunger is not only the physical alert from our body that we need food, but is also another way to talk about poverty. 

A child who eats flaming hot cheese snacks and a soda purchased from a corner store on his way to school may not be “hungry” in the traditional sense, but rather may be lacking needed nutrients found in fresh, wholesome food. The child may not be able to afford anything more than sugary drinks and sodium-filled snacks. And even if the child were able to afford something better, other options may not even be available in the neighborhood: 23.5 million Americans don’t have access to a supermarket within a mile of their home. 

As Rochelle Davis has discussed on this blog, many children are facing the dual challenge of obesity and hunger. Low-income communities of color are particularly affected by patterns of disinvestment and a lack of access to healthy foods –- an issue of economics, health, and social justice that can perpetuate both obesity and hunger.  Children from poor families are twice as likely to be obese as children from well-off families (45 percent vs. 22 percent), according to a recent study. 

Educator Eric Tipler discusses the connection between obesity and poverty in the school environment in his article, “Childhood Obesity is a Social Justice Issue, Too.”  Tipler, a teacher in the D.C. and Virginia area, says that during his time teaching at an inner-city high school, he noted the absence of fruits and vegetables and the prevalence of cookies, pizza, and slushie machines. He writes, “Childhood obesity isn’t just a public health issue, it’s a social justice issue. It disproportionately affects the poor and minorities.” He writes that “obese children are more likely to become impoverished adults, spawning a vicious cycle in which poverty begets obesity, in turn leading to further poverty.” 

Our schools have a unique opportunity to make changes in the cafeteria that will have significant impacts for children’s health and education, providing the nutrition that fuels learning. Providing healthy, nourishing food for children at schools is an important part of addressing childhood obesity and hunger –- and justice.

 

You can help improve school meals by urging Congress to pass a strong reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. Take action now: Send a letter!

Let’s Get Moving: Study Shows Little Physical Activity for Chicago Teens

By Rosa L. Ramirez, HSC Policy & Outreach Coordinator 

Chicago’s youth could be at increased risk for chronic illness as adults, reports a new study by Children’s Memorial Research Center revealing that the percentage of Chicago teens participating in the recommended amount of daily physical activity is stunningly low. Why is this? What does this mean for the future of Chicago teens? And what can we do to reverse the trend?

“Chronic diseases don’t develop overnight. And so what we see here is a group of young people whose habits reflect a walk toward higher rates of chronic disease,” explained Maryann Mason of the Child Health Data Lab, to Chicago Public Radio.

To collect data for the study, teens in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) system were surveyed about the time they spent on the computer, watching TV, or being physically active. The CDC recommends about 60 minutes of physical activity a day. Less than one in three teens in the CPS system meets this recommendation for physical activity, compared to nearly half of students in the rest of the state. And researchers also say that as Chicago youth get older, the percentage of teens getting enough exercise will continue to drop, resulting in higher risk for chronic illness as adults.

The reasons are complex and often inextricably linked to other issues.

Increasingly our lives have been made easier and less active because of technological advances and modern conveniences. The commonplace sedentary lifestyle coupled with concerns about transportation, opportunities in a child’s area and expense are often reported as common barriers to being physically active.

First Lady Michelle Obama is urging the country to increase kids’ levels of physical activity, as part of her Let’s Move initiative to reduce childhood obesity in a generation. She argues that today’s children need safe routes to walk and ride to school, parks, playgrounds and community centers where they can play and be active after school, and sports, dance or fitness programs that are exciting and challenging to keep them engaged.

Programs such as those offered by Chicago Run, Get Healthy Chicago, Purple Asparagus, Urban Initiatives, Walk Across Illinois and the UIC Chicago Partnership for Health Promotion are well equipped to offer free or low-cost services to schools located throughout the city to get kids moving and being physically active.

Let’s get moving!