A new video highlights Nutrition Policy Institute's partnership with Impact Justice, ChangeLab Solutions, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to launch "Harvest of the Month," a program which brings fresh, California-grown produce into carceral institutions around California to improve the diets of the residents, as well as improve their overall health and well-being. A national 2020 study shows that 63% of incarcerated individuals rarely or never have fresh vegetables and 55% rarely or never have fresh fruit. In September, residents at three CDRC correctional facilities in Northern California received fresh pears grown locally in Sacramento County through the new program. One incarcerated individual shares in the video, “This is the best pear I have ever eaten, it was so good, so I ate all of it.” CDCR is responsible for feeding over 100,000 incarcerated individuals and they are the single largest purchaser of food in the state. The new program aligns with two state policies that supporting institutional procurement of local produce, including California Assembly Bill 778. CDRC aims to expand the program to all 33 of its facilities across the state by October 2025. Learn more about the new program in this news story.
The University of California's Nutrition Policy Institute released brief training videos to aid family child care home providers in promoting proper nutrition among young children. Current California law mandates only an hour of nutrition training for child care providers licensed after 2015, omitting over 30,000 providers who care for nearly 310,000 children. To address this gap, NPI has unveiled seven brief videos, each under 60 seconds, in English and Spanish. These videos, which can be freely used by educators, align with evidence-based recommendations for what and how to feed infants and toddlers. They were developed for the one-hour online trainings, "Infant and Toddler Feeding Recommendations for Family Child Care Home Providers," available in Spanish as well. While California providers can access the trainings for free, those outside the state can access them for $15. Each training concludes with a completion certificate. The UC Nutrition Policy Institute collaborated with UCSF California Childcare Health Program, UCSF School of Nursing, UC Cooperative Extension, and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources News and Outreach in Spanish for this project, supported by a UC ANR grant.
- Author: Danielle L. Lee
- Editor: Lorrene Ritchie
Nutrition plays an important role in promoting health and preventing disease, but where people live or how much money they earn can affect their ability to access or afford healthy food. Understanding the role socio-economic conditions play can help inform prevention efforts. Nutrition Policy Institute director and Cooperative Extension specialist, Lorrene Ritchie, presented at a three-day virtual National Institutes of Health workshop, “Food Insecurity, Neighborhood Food Environment, and Nutrition Health Disparities: State of the Science”. Her talk, “Food Insecurity Across the Lifespan,” provided an overview of current evidence related to racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities of food insecurity over the life course. All talks are free and available on-demand for online viewing.
Children in child care can consume up to two-thirds of their daily nutrition in these settings, and healthy feeding practices and obesity prevention efforts in childcare can support childrens' health later in life. Lorrene Ritchie, director of the Nutrition Policy Institute and University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) specialist, is a leading expert in the field of infant and toddler feeding. Ritchie presented findings on transitional feeding practices for infants in child care – with a focus on family child care home settings – to attendees of the 95th Nestlé Nutrition Institute Workshop - Building Future Health and well-being of thriving toddlers and young children. The workshop was hosted virtually September 14-16, 2020. Ritchie's presentation was titled “Transition from breastfeeding and complementary feeding to toddler nutrition in childcare settings.” Ritchie shared findings from collaborative research on infant and child nutrition and feeding practice standards for child care providers with NPI researcher Danielle Lee, Lauren Au of the University of California, Davis, and Elyse Homel Vitale of the Childcare Food Program Roundtable. A recording of Ritchie's presentation is available for viewing online.
Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) and affiliated researchers recently conducted research across the University of California (UC) to develop new survey questions to assess student homeless and housing insecurity. They presented their findings during a free webinar, "Redefining Basic Needs and Assessing Housing Insecurity in Higher Education" on August 13, 2020. The webinar was featured NPI affiliated researcher Suzanna Martinez of UC San Francisco and the research team, Erin Esaryk and Eli Jimenez. Martinez shared the newly developed questions for the assessment of homelessness and housing insecurity, provided a student-informed definition of basic needs, and shared UC student experiences of housing and food insecurity from multiple campuses. These findings provide a comprehensive student definition of basic needs to inform research, programs, and policy to address housing and food insecurity in higher education. Findings were discussed in a question and answer session with student leader, Gwen Chodur, of the UC Graduate & Professional Council. The event was co-hosted by Ruben Canedo from UC Berkeley and Tim Galarneau from UC Santa Cruz, co-chairs of the UC Basic Needs Systemwide Effort. The webinar recording is available online. This research project was funded by the UC Global Food Initiative and the full research report and survey questions are available for download online.
