- Author: Brianna Aguayo Villalon
- Editor: Lorrene Ritchie
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP nationally, and commonly known as CalFresh in California, gives approximately 3.3 million college students access to essential food assistance. However, an estimated 57% of SNAP-eligible students do not enroll. The research team conducted individual and group interviews from February 2020 and December 2021 through Zoom to gain insight into the student SNAP application process from the perspective of CalFresh county agency workers. Through this qualitative approach, the research team aimed to better understand the student SNAP application process from the perspective of county agency workers. The study identified 5 central themes, in which county agency workers perceived the process as challenging for students, and burdensome for administration workers. The research study was recently published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior by Suzanna Martinez, Sonali Singh, and Erin Esaryk with the University of California San Francisco, San Francisco's Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Nutrition Policy Institute researcher, Lorrene Ritchie.
- Author: Danielle Lee
- Editor: Wendi Gosliner
- Editor: Lorrene D Ritchie
More Americans are now sick with diet-related conditions than are well. In the American Journal of Public Health's special issue on "Policies and Strategies to Increase Equitable Access to Family Nutrition," Lorrene Ritchie and Wendi Gosliner of the Nutrition Policy Institute advocate for bold action to improve the health and diets of all Americans. Their editorial entitled “Bold Action Needed for Equitable Access to Nutrition Assistance by All” along with the supporting research featured in the special issue emphasize that while federal nutrition assistance helps one in four Americans and over half of school-aged children, more needs to be done to address food and financial insecurity and improve the diet and health of Americans. Ritchie and Gosliner suggest that, “Currently the nutrition assistance programs conflate two separate issues, one involving people facing poverty with inadequate resources to secure adequate food and the other involving structural supports to the food system and societal norms that facilitate abundant access to and promotion of relatively cheap and unhealthy options, leading to poor diets being the status quo.” They recommend rethinking nutrition assistance's role in combating poverty, suggesting income and housing support, and separately, restructuring federal nutrition assistance programs to support healthy food consumption for all, like providing school meals for all K-12 students, and restructuring retail food environments to create new healthy norms. The special issue and editorial were published online on December 20, 2023.
Like California, Maine is providing Universal School Meals statewide for the 2022-2023 school year. The Nutrition Policy Institute is collaborating with a national research team to understand the opportunities and challenges of providing universal school meals during the federally-funded COVID-19 implementation of free school meals in Maine to inform continuation of universal school meals beyond the federally supported program. During spring of 2022, a total of 43 school food authorities (SFA) in Maine completed an online survey about the challenges and benefits of school food service during the COVID-19 federally funded universal meals program as well as their hopes and concerns about continuing to implement universal school meals. SFAs reported benefits of USM such as increased school meal participation, reductions in perceived stigma of eating school meals, and the new absence of unpaid meal charges. Notable challenges reported during the COVID-19 pandemic were related to resources such as time, personnel, and financial support to meet the increased number of student school meal participation. Rural schools reported greater challenges than urban schools. The study highlights the role of public policy at local, state, and federal levels to support schools as they work to promote nutrition equity in the lunchroom. Results were published online the the journal Nutrients as part of their special issue on School Meals and Children's Dietary Behaviour. The study was conducted by lead author Juliana Cohen and Deborah Olarte of the Center for Health Inclusion, Research and Practice, Christina Hecht, Ken Hecht, Monica Zuercher, Wendi Gosliner, and Lorrene Ritchie from the Nutrition Policy Institute, Michele Polacsek of the University of New England, Center for Excellence in Public Health, Margaret Read of Share Our Strength, No Kid Hungry, Anisha Patel of Stanford University Division of General Pediatrics, Marleke Schwartz of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, and Lindsey Turner of the College of Education, Boise State University. The study was funded by Share Our Strength and Full Plates Full Potential.
- Author: Katherine Lanca
- Editor: Danielle L. Lee
- Editor: Lorrene Ritchie
The American Public Health Association holds an Annual Meeting & Expo for public health professionals to engage, collaborate, and network with the overarching goal of advancing the nation's health. This year's meeting in Boston, November 6-9, 2022 will celebrate 150 Years of Creating the Healthiest Nation: Leading the Path Toward Equity. Nutrition Policy Institute researchers will share findings that bring nutrition equity to the forefront of federal programs, school nutrition, community health, health literacy, and the food retail environment. A list of the poster presentations and live oral presentations is found below.
Retail food environment:
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What can we learn from California's investment in the Healthy Stores Refrigeration Grant Program?
Authors: Carolyn Chelius, Caroline Long, Taylor Baisey, Wendi Gosliner
Wednesday, November 9, 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.; oral presentation
School meals:
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Providing School Meals to All Students Free of Cost: Challenges and Benefits Reported by School District Foodservice Professionals to Inform California's Policy Implementation
Authors: Wendi Gosliner, Monica Zuercher, Juliana Cohen, Christina Hecht, Michele Polacsek, Kenneth Hecht, Lindsey Turner, Marlene Schwartz, Anisha Patel, Lorrene Ritchie
Monday, November 7, 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.; oral presentation
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Impact of a teacher intervention to encourage students to eat school lunch
Authors: Hannah Thompson, Stephanie Machado, Kristine Madsen, Renata Cauchon-Robles, Marisa Neelon, Lorrene Ritchie
Monday, November 7, 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.; oral presentation
SNAP-Ed:
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Evaluation identifies the most promising combinations of school-based Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) interventions for improving student fitness
Authors: Sridharshi Hewawitharana, Gail Woodward-Lopez, Punam Ohri-Vachaspati, Francesco Acciai, Hannah R. Thompson, Wendi Gosliner
Monday, November 7, 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.; oral presentation -
Reductions in public health obesity prevention interventions due to COVID-19 disproportionately affect neighborhoods with pre-existing health inequities
Authors: Erin E Esaryk, Carolyn D Rider, Gail Woodward-Lopez
Tuesday, November 8, Session 8; 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.; poster presentation -
A novel approach to measuring potential for health equity impact in community health interventions
Authors: Janice Kao, Gail Woodward-Lopez, Christina Becker, Carolyn Rider, Erin Esaryk, Evan Talmage
Tuesday, November 8, Session 7; 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.; poster presentation
WIC:
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Assessing changes associated with expanding the WIC Cash-Value Benefit for the purchase of fruits and vegetables among children age 1 to 5 years: a longitudinal study
Authors: Marisa Tsai, Christopher Anderson, Catherine Martinez, Martha Meza, Lauren Au, Lorrene Ritchie, Shannon Whaley
Tuesday, November 8, 2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.; oral presentation
Other:
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Impact of an arts-based public health literacy program delivered online to high school students during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Hannah Thompson, Jackie Mendelson, Maya Zamek, Gabriel Cortez, Dean Schillinger
Wednesday, November 9, 12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.; oral presentation