The University of California is providing a free online course, Healthy Beverages in Early Care & Education, in English and Spanish for child care providers in California. This 30-minute online class is a fun and interactive way to learn about the latest recommendations for healthy beverages for children and help child care providers meet the requirements of the California Healthy Beverages in Child Care Act (AB 2084). Providers outside of California may have similar beverage requirements. All young children, regardless of licensing or Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) requirements, can benefit from consuming healthy beverages.
The class includes videos, short quizzes, activities, and covers topics such as milk, types of fruit juice, and reading nutrition labels. A professional development certificate will be provided upon completion. The course is available for child care providers outside of California for a $15 fee. A promotional toolkit is available in English and Spanish to help community-based organizations and stakeholders share the online training with child care providers in their communities. This toolkit contains messages, social media postings, and images to help organizations and individuals reach out to a variety of child care audiences. This class was developed by the UCSF School of Nursing, California Childcare Health Program in partnership with the UC Nutrition Policy Institute and Cooperative Extension, with support from a grant by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Nutrition Policy Institute is collaborating with The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc. and Public Health Foundation Enterprises (PHFE), Inc. on two projects funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Healthy Eating Research Program, as announced today. NPI's Christina Hecht and Laura Vollmer, of NPI's National Drinking Water Alliance, received funding to collaborate with Sonya Shin at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc. on a project to expand and evaluate a community-based intervention to increase healthy beverage consumption by Navajo preschool children. The second project is a collaboration between NPI's Lorrene Ritchie and Lauren Au with Shannon Whaley of PHFE Women, Infants and Children (WIC) on a project that will pilot test and evaluate an expansion ofWIC's $9 per month cash value benefit for the purchase of fruits and vegetables to $23 per month. These research teams are being funded through Healthy Eating Research's annual call for proposals. This call for proposals focused exclusively on children ages 0-8, and the resulting projects focus on a range of topics, including WIC, healthy beverage consumption, and food purchasing patterns.
Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) Senior Researcher and Policy Advisor Wendi Gosliner, in collaboration with Professor Lia Fernald at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health, received a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Equity-Focused Policy Research grant to understand the reasons for disparities in access to income support, particularly among urban Latinx and African American populations and among rural whites in California. Dr. Gosliner will work with Dr. Fernald specifically to evaluate levels of awareness, barriers to uptake, and the benefits of participation in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) among families with children ages 0-5 years old in three California counties - Los Angeles, Alameda, and Merced. The two-year project will be completed in November 2021.
The chief business officer manages the administrative operations of the Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI), a research institute with a staff of approximately 30-40 academic, staff and student positions funded predominately by grants from large foundations, health care institutions or government agencies. Administrative oversight activities include up to 20-40 grants and contracts, human resources management, internal and external communications, complex budget, accounting and payroll oversight, general office management (IT, telecommunications, facilities, data management, travel, leadership team support), and operational strategic planning. This position supervises a team of 3 professional administrative staff members. Previous experience working within the University of California system is desired. The job is located at the NPI research office in downtown Berkeley, CA. Apply online. This job posting will close on 02/05/2020.
A comment composed by members of the National Drinking Water Alliance was signed by 62 individuals and 13 organizations and submitted to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) for the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs). The comment urged the DGAC to include in their report, strong language recommending that the new 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans state explicitly and unequivocally that water should be first for thirst and should be consumed in place of sugar-sweetened beverages. Further, the comment urges the needed steps be taken to add a symbol for water to the MyPlate graphic. Read the full comment here. The National Drinking Water Alliance is coordinated by the Nutrition Policy Institute. Learn more about the drinking water input at the National Drinking Water Alliance website.
