CalFresh Healthy Living aims to improve students' health and wellbeing through interventions that promote healthy eating and physical activity. In 2023-24, 92 school and school-based after school sites partnered with the local health department in their county to implement and evaluate CalFresh Healthy Living Programming. To measure program outcomes, students reported their dietary intake and physical activity behaviors on a self-administered survey before and after the programming. An infographic developed by the Nutrition Policy Institute describes the sample of students who participated in the evaluation and summarizes changes in their nutrition and physical activity behaviors. The infographic demonstrates a number of behavior changes, including:

• Whole fruit consumption increased by 0.5 times per day
• Sugary drink consumption decreased by 0.5 times per day
• The number of students achieving 60min of daily physical activity increased by 16%

Learn more about NPI's work to evaluate the CalFresh Healthy Living program.

Nutrition Policy Institute, in collaboration with the Dolores Huerta Foundation, Cultiva La Salud, and Stanford Pediatrics, released three infographics with information on school meal programs. The cartoon-style one-pagers were developed after a PhotoVoice project suggested the need for culturally and linguistically relevant materials about school nutrition programs for Spanish-speaking families in California's San Joaquin Valley. The infographics emphasize federal nutrition requirements for school meals, factors influencing school meal offerings, and the role families and youth can play in advocating for changes.

• “What's on the menu?” promotes the benefits to student health and learning from school meals, including an overview of their nutritional components. It is available in Spanish, “¿Qué hay en el Menú de la?”, and complementary English and Spanish videos.
• “What goes into making school meals?” highlights the logistics and other factors that influence how schools provide meals. It is available in Spanish, “¿Qué se Necesita para Preparar las Comidas Escolares?” and complementary English and Spanish videos.
• “Make Your Voice Heard!” highlights avenues for parent and community involvement in advocating for policies and practices related to school meals at local, state, and federal levels. It is available in Spanish, “¡Alza tu Voz!

Parents, youth, school district officials, food service directors in the San Joaquin Valley, and other partners helped to co-create the infographics with designers at Tremendousness. The project partnership includes NPI's senior policy advisor Christina Hecht and policy director Ken Hecht. Initial investigation and infographic content development were funded by the Stanford University Office of Community Engagement, with video development and extended dissemination funded by the Thompson Family Foundation.

Easy access to safe and appealing drinking water is important throughout the school day for students and staff and is required as part of school foodservice, including for school year 2021-2022. Schools may have turned off drinking water fountains during the pandemic, however, the virus that causes COVID-19 has not been found in drinking water and the risk of contracting COVID-19 from surfaces is considered to be low. A new infographic to help schools understand how to safely reopen drinking water fountains was developed by researchers affiliated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research Network. Co-authors include Angie Cradock from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Christina Hecht from the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Nutrition Policy Institute and coordinator of the National Drinking Water Alliance, Caitlin Merlo from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Anisha Patel from Stanford. The infographic was also featured in a California School Boards Association blog post.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 requires schools to make potable water available at no charge to students, wherever lunch is served, and when breakfast is served in the cafeteria. For school year 2020-2021, the United States Department of Agriculture allows some flexibilities but continues to require potable water be made available when lunch is served at school and encourages schools to make potable water available in all meal service locations, as safety permits. The National Drinking Water Alliance, coordinated by the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI), in collaboration with Alliance for a Healthier Generation, released a new infographic for schools to support increased access to drinking water for students. The infographic, titled "Increasing Drinking Water Availability in Schools During COVID-19 and Beyond", is available for download online. It showcases a variety of ways that schools can make water easily available throughout the campus. It includes tips and links to resources on ensuring safe access to drinking water for schools that are reopening, water testing and sanitation. The infographic also provides links to resources in English and Spanish for schools to promote drinking water to students and improve students' healthy hydration habits.