The Nutrition Policy Institute's CalFresh Healthy Living Evaluation team, in collaboration with the California Department of Public Health, is thrilled to announce recognition of 129 schools, 79 early care and education programs, and 77 out-of-school time programs across California as recipients of the 2024 Leaders in Eating and Activity Practices, or LEAP, Awards. LEAP Awards recognize schools, early care and education programs, and out-of-school time programs that demonstrate achievement of best practices that support healthy eating and active living, as reported on a Site-Level Assessment Questionnaire. Awardees partner with their local health department's CalFresh Healthy Living program to plan and implement health promotion projects. We applaud these sites, and their Local Health Department partners, for their dedication to supporting the health and well-being of the children and youth they serve! For more information about LEAP Awards, visit the LEAP award web page or email EvaluateSNAPEd@ucanr.edu.
CalFresh Healthy Living aims to improve the health and wellbeing of Californians through interventions that promote healthy eating and active living. Interventions include evidence-based nutrition and physical activity education programs delivered to adults in community settings, like congregate meal sites and parks and recreation facilities. In federal fiscal year 2024, the Nutrition Policy Institute, in partnership with local health departments, evaluated series-based education programs. To measure program outcomes, participants self-reported their dietary and physical behaviors on a survey before and after the program. An infographic developed by the Nutrition Policy Institute describes these adult participants and summarizes changes in their behaviors. The infographic demonstrates a number of behavior changes, including:
- Vegetable intake increased by 0.5 cups per day
- Fruit intake increased by 0.5 cups per day
- Drinking soda 'often or everyday' decreased by 58%
- The number of participants meeting the recommendation of 2+ days of muscle strengthening activity/week increased by 47%
Learn more about NPI's work to evaluate CalFresh Healthy Living.
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.
- Author: Brianna Aguayo Villalon
The American Public Health Association's 2024 Annual Meeting & Expo will take place in Minneapolis, Minnesota from October 27-29, 2024 to gather nearly 13,000 public health professionals to connect, learn, and inspire each other. This year's conference centers on "Rebuilding Trust in Public Health and Science," focusing on the challenges posed by political polarization, underfunding, and distrust in scientific research. Nutrition Policy Institute researchers will present recent findings on school recess and physical education and universal school meal policies. A list of the live oral presentations is found below.
- Not all fun and games: Disparities in school recess persist and must be addressed
- Authors: Hannah Thompson, Rebecca London
- Date: Monday, October 28, 11:00 - 11:15 a.m. CDT. Oral presentation by Hannah Thompson
- Statewide universal school meals policies are associated with greater household food security
- Authors: Dania Orta-Aleman, Monica Zuercher, Lorrene Ritchie, Juliana Cohen, Wendi Gosliner
- Date: Tuesday, October 29, 9:10 - 9:30 a.m. CDT. Oral presentation by Dania Orta-Aleman
- Impact of a multilevel, multicomponent intervention to improve elementary school physical education on student cardiorespiratory fitness
- Authors: Hannah Thompson, Kristine Madsen, Caroline Nguyen, Thomas McKenzie, Sally Picciotto
- Date: Wednesday, October 30, 8:30 - 8:45 a.m. CDT. Oral presentation by Hannah Thompson
- Author: Jean Aquino
- Editor: Hannah Thompson
- Editor: Danielle Lee
An article in EdSource by Hannah Thompson of the Nutrition Policy Institute and Rebecca London of the University of California Santa Cruz discussed the impacts of the “Recess for All” law in California schools. The law requires at least 30 minutes of recess in elementary schools and bans taking away recess as punishment. Research in education and child development has found that recess benefits behavioral, mental, and physical health in students. Surveys of students have found that recess is a popular subject statewide. Recess also helped students recover from social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. It can help students develop interpersonal skills and later focus in the classroom and improve learning. The “Recess for All” law has helped create equity among schools, as students of color and in low-income areas have historically had less recess time. However, the benefits of recess have been underestimated with the rise in standardized testing and decrease in recess and arts during the No Child Left Behind era. Hopefully, with the support of parents and students, the “Recess for All” law can be implemented equally throughout California elementary schools.
