Good Food for Early Care and Education Diane Harris, Ph.D., M.P.H., C.H.E.S. Health Scientist and Team Lead, Healthy Food Environment Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The conclusions in this presentation are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Partnerships to Expand Access to CACFP and Healthy Food Let s Move Child Care CDC/DNPAO-funded projects Getting local food to early care and education (ECE) Farm to Preschool Central kitchens/food hubs Working with School Districts https://healthykidshealthyfuture.org/ 1
What is Let s Move Child Care? Part of the First Lady s Let s Move! initiative to raise a generation of healthier kids Encourages and supports providers to make positive changes in their programs to help children get off to a healthy start Recognizes providers who meet best practices in 5 goal areas: physical activity, screen time, food, beverages, infant feeding How Do Providers Participate? Sign up online at www.healthykidshealthyfuture.org Take the Checklist Quiz to see how you are doing on the 5 Let s Move! Child Care goals Build an Action Plan to reach the goals Use the free online resources to help implement your action steps Retake the Checklist Quiz once you meet the goals Share your success story Participation Data (as of 12/31/14) 15,963 providers registered. Number of children served in participating programs (who have taken the quiz): 111,007 11,734 providers have completed the online Checklist Quiz at least once. 1,201 of quizzes show respondent meeting all best practices. 2,710 of quizzes show respondent meeting >75% best practices. 9,478 of quizzes show respondent meeting >50% best practices. LMCC Recognition LMCC Recognition Ceremonies Next - April 21-23, 15 161 submissions 2
LMCC Support National Early Care and Education Learning Collaborative (ECELC) Project Brings together a large number of ECE programs to participate in a learning system to make quality improvements in a focused area Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey and Virginia Impact 1,200 programs 6 New CDC Cooperative Agreements https://healthykidshealthyfuture.org/aboutecelc/ DNPAO-Funded Programs: 1305 Consolidated Chronic Disease Resources pooled over obesity, heart disease and stroke, diabetes, and school health Domain 2 - Environmental approaches that promote health and support and reinforce healthful behavior ECE strategies focused on promoting physical activity http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/about/state -public-health-actions.htm 1305 ECE Example: State of Alaska Public Health Following the Let's Move Childcare assessment and planning model, determine possible partners, convene an ECE advisory group and assess the need for provider training around nutrition/physical activity. Complete an action plan and logic model to guide future initiatives. Increase the number of ECEs that have made progress implementing the Lets Move Childcare 5-step process including nutrition standards. Association for Education of Young Children (AEYC), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), UAF Cooperative Extension 3
DNPAO-Funded Programs: 1416 Obesity Reduction in High-Risk Counties 3-year cooperative agreement to 6 land grant universities Counties with greater than 40% adult obesity prevalence Work at the community level Choose community or early care and education setting 1416 Example: West Virginia University Pre-K classrooms and licensed childcare providers in 3 rural counties (Barbour, Gilmer, Pleasants Counties) Conducting assessment of ECE practices (NAPSACC) Evaluating opportunities to integrate farm to pre-school Farm to Preschool: A Holistic Approach Farm to Preschool Activities Farm to preschool programs connect young children (0-6) with local foods through: Local procurement Nutrition / garden- based education School gardening Student engagement activities such as field trips to farms, and taste-testing School wellness policies Parent engagement activities 4
Farm to Preschool Goals Positively influence eating habits of young children Promote food and environmental literacy in families Improve healthy food access at home Purchase high quality, affordable food from local producers Children Community Benefits of Farm to Preschool Educators and Support Staff Producers Families Communities National Farm to School Network NFSN Procurement Resources ECE represents a diversity of purchasing scale http://www.farmtoschool.org/ 5
USDA Farm to School Program Farm to School Grant Program Planning, Implementation, Support Services, Conference/Event Farm to School Census 44% of school districts participating Can locate districts with Pre-K programs Farm to Preschool Regional Leads http://www.fns.usda.gov/farmtoschool/farmschool USDA Procurement Guidance http://www.fns.usda.gov/farmtoschool/ procuring-local-foods Farm to Keiki (HI) https://vimeo.com/45469927 Salt Lake Community Action Program Head Start Central Kitchen 3,000 meals per day, 24 Head Start sites in 2013 Majority of the operating budget (86%) is from CACFP reimbursement Distributor provides chef access to database of daily quoted prices to provide real-time cost estimates of the food items for a given menu before a purchase order is issued Estimate 75% of food local/regional http://www.centertrt.org/?p=intervention&id=1185 6
Vermont Works for Women FRESH Food is a culinary training program that prepares underemployed women to work in commercial kitchens and restaurants Trainees assist professional chefs in preparing 6,000 meals per month for local childcare centers throughout Chittenden County FRESH Food collaborates with 25 Vermont farmers and vendors, locally sourcing about 30% of its food http://vtworksforwomen.org/freshfood/ Bistro Kids Good Nature Family Farms 3000 meals served daily to vulnerable Head Start and Early Education students in Kansas City, MO 2 central production kitchens serve 10 locations, 15 chefs and servers follow CACFP guidelines 40% local foods sourced at food hub Nutrition education and community outreach Evaluation conducted by U of Kansas Med http://www.goodnaturedfamilyfarms.com/ Treat_America_Bistro_Kids.php Working with K-12 Districts? School districts as procurement specialists Potential collective purchasing for many organizations Summary CACFP provides minimum standards for foods offered children in ECE Innovative partnerships help bring high quality foods into CACFP programs 7
Questions? dmharris@cdc.gov http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/strategies/childcareece.html DNPAO Healthy Food Environment Team Topics & Functions Creating healthy food environments -- fruits and vegetables (FV) & healthy diet Food service guidelines Foods for ECE, schools, hospitals, worksites and more Healthier food retail (farmers markets, corner stores, grocery stores) Behavioral design strategies Functions Surveillance - Guidelines development Research/evaluation - Technical assistance 8