‘HealthierUS School Challenge’ now has cash awards
CSBA Region 6 director participates in conference call with Michelle Obama
Published: May 1, 2011
Buoyed by the enthusiastic support of First Lady Michelle Obama, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “HealthierUS School Challenge” is working to expand its reach by awarding cash incentives to schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program and submit winning applications.
In a recent telephone conference call with public education leaders around the country, including representatives from CSBA, the First Lady said her goal is to double the number of schools that participate in the healthier schools program. Participation has been modest since it was established in 2004. Only 27 California schools have received awards under the program, and until last year those awards were limited to plaques and recognition for meeting healthy school benchmarks.
Now, though, the program offers cash incentives of $500 to $2,000 for award-winning schools. Last fall, the El Monte City School District in Los Angeles won $14,000—$1,000 for each Silver award-winning school site.
Robert Lewis, El Monte’s director of nutrition services, said a new online application form makes it easier now for local educational agencies—especially those with uniform programs at multiple sites—to apply for Challenge awards. Lewis said El Monte’s comprehensive wellness policy is based on the broad outlines of CSBA’s model.
“CSBA provided a very good example of a wellness policy,” Lewis said. “We used that as a starting point and filled in the specifics for our schools.”
First Lady on the phone
Michelle Obama has taken a strong interest in an integrated approach to children’s nutrition, exercise and academics, most notably in her “Let’s Move!” campaign. That initiative has now been incorporated into the USDA’s School Challenge.
Priscilla Cox, a school board member in the Elk Grove Unified School District who represents Region 6 on CSBA’s Board of Directors, was among the education leaders who participated in the recent conference call with the First Lady and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack.
Cox said Elk Grove Unified was already seeking HealthierUS School Challenge recognition and awards for each of the district’s 39 elementary schools.
“Our district already does quite a bit to promote student wellness,” Cox said. “But to hear directly from the First Lady about the importance of this program is very helpful. Having the White House recognize student wellness as a priority is great.”
Pointing out that new state and federal nutritional guidelines can be costly to implement, Cox said the grants can especially help now, “when funding for schools is under such stress.”
“Our food service has done an incredible job providing healthy meals,” she said. “It’s a question of resources, but you can’t argue about the importance of serving meals that are as healthy as possible.”
3-pronged Challenge
The HealthierUS School Challenge has three goals:
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improve the quality of the foods served
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provide students with nutrition education
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provide students with physical education and opportunities for physical activity
State nutrition consultant Elizabeth Moreno encouraged potential applicants to review the materials and application on the USDA’s Team Nutrition website and contact her with any questions at 916-324-9749 or by email:
EMoreno@cde.ca.gov.
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