Nutrition Policy Institute researchers will present their collaborative research findings at the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior International Annual 2023 Conference in Washington, D.C. Wendi Gosliner presents on July 22, 9:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. ET as part of a session on "School Meals for All: Exploring Global Initiatives and Lessons Learned from California and Maine." Lorrene Ritchie presents a poster on July 23, 10:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET titled "Transition to Freshly-Prepared School Meals: Impacts on Meal Appeal, Student Participation, Intake, Food and Packaging Waste & School Finances;" the poster is co-authored by Celeste Felix and Danielle Lee from NPI, Hannah Thompson, Kristine Madsen and Caroline Nguyen from the University of California, Berkeley, and Laura Vollmer from UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. Miranda Westfall presents a poster on July 23, 10:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET titled "Assessments of Practices to Support Nutrition and Physical Activity at CA SNAP-Ed Eligible Schools Reveal Inequities;" the poster is co-authored by Janice Kao, Carolyn Rider, Sridharshi Hewawitharana, Amanda Linares, and Gail Woodward-Lopez from NPI.

The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources is calling academics, UC ANR staff, and students to attend the kickoff of their 2025-2040 strategic visioning process at the UC ANR Statewide Conference on April 24-27, 2023 in Fresno, California. Topics of the conference include: healthy food systems, healthy environments, healthy communities, and healthy Californians. Nutrition Policy Institute researchers will attend the conference to share current challenges, best practices, and future opportunities pertaining to healthy food access and nutrition policy in California and nationally. NPI team members will also lead sessions on professional development and best research practices. In addition to presenting, NPI will have an interactive table in the UC ANR Resources Room where NPI team members can answer attendees' questions about NPI and the CalFresh Health Living Evaluation Unit. A list of the poster presentations and sessions led by NPI researchers is found below.

Community Nutrition

• Sharing Successes and Collaborations in Community Nutrition and Health 
  Session: Measuring outcomes of CalFresh Healthy Living: Collaborating to enhance evaluation rigor and apply an equity framework
  Presenters: Kaela Plank, Miranda Westfall, and Barbara MkNelly
  Monday, April 24, 2023, 11:00 a.m.- 12 p.m.

Drinking Water

• Enabling Consumption of Water: the Example of Schools
  Session: What's New in the World of Water?
  Presenter: Christina Hecht
  Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 3:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

Nutrition Security

• Research to Inform Policy: Nutrition Security and Health Equity
  Session: Food Systems: Healthy Planet, Healthy People
  Presenter: Lorrene Ritchie
  Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 8:00 a.m.- 10:00 a.m.

Professional Development and Research Skills

• Wheel of your Career
  Session: Food Systems: Healthy Planet, Healthy People
  Presenter: Danielle Lee
  Wednesday, April 26, 2023, 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

• From Science to Action: Tools and Techniques for Fact-Based Civic Engagement
  Session: Strengthening Participatory Extension Approaches
  Presenter: Christina Hecht
  Thursday, April 27, 2023, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

School Food

• Universal School Meals in California: Challenges and Benefits Reported by Foodservice Directors and Parents
  Poster: M-55
  Presenter: Lorrene Ritchie
  Monday, April 24, 2023, 6:30 p.m.- 8:30 p.m.

• Method for Evaluating Food Packaging Waste in Schools: Waste Audit for Sustainable Transitions and Evaluations (WASTE)
  Poster:  T-30
  Presenter: Danielle Lee
  Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 6:30 p.m.- 8:30 p.m.

Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)

• Highlighting the impact of multi-state research-to-policy efforts during COVID-19: understanding perspectives and utilization of WIC adaptations in California and beyond
  Poster: M-64
  Presenter: Lorrene Ritchie, Danielle Lee, and Marisa Tsai
  Monday, April 24, 2023, 6:30 p.m.- 8:30 p.m.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) food packages provide a specific set of foods to meet nutritional needs of low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and postpartum individuals, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk. The USDA's proposed revisions include increasing the value of WIC's fruit and vegetable benefit, flexibility in food package sizes, and closer alignment with the current Dietary Guidelines of America, 2020-2025. A new research brief highlights WIC participants' preferences for recommended changes to the WIC food package. Among nearly 8,000 WIC participants from 12 States that responded to an open-ended survey question in 2021 about their experiences with WIC, there was a common desire for greater flexibility and personalization of the WIC food packages. Participants expressed an interest in purchasing more fruits and vegetables and highlighted inadequacy of the current CVB amount to meet their dietary preferences and needs. The research offers WIC participants' input to develop WIC food packages that improve participants' health outcomes, and addresses inequitable access to nutritious foods. The USDA, Food and Nutrition Service, invites public comment on WIC food package revisions on the Federal Register by February 21, 2023. The research brief was developed by Gabby Underwood and Loan Kim of Pepperdine University, Danielle Lee and Lorrene Ritchie of the Nutrition Policy Institute, and Christina Chauvenet of the National WIC Association.

Licensed family child care homes (FCCH) provide child care in individual homes, are often located in the same neighborhood as the families they serve and often provide longer hours of care at a lower cost than child care centers. New research shows that a self-paced, online nutrition training for FCCH providers has the potential to make childhood nutrition guidance more accessible and may help bridge a potential regulatory gap: licensed FCCHs in California not currently participating in the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program only receive one hour of mandatory nutrition training if licensed after 2016—leaving out nearly 30,000 providers licensed before 2016 who provide care to over 310,000 children—and are not required to offer foods and beverages that meet nutrition standards. The training—available in both English and Spanish and free of cost to California-based providers—consists of four 20-minute interactive models providing guidance on what and how to feed infants and toddlers. Child care providers reported high levels of satisfaction, as well as an intention to make changes in feeding practices, after completing a pilot-test of the online training. Findings also identified a need for culturally relevant information and a live nutrition educator to discuss the training material. The research article was published in the California Agriculture journal and authored by Danielle Lee, Ron Strochlic, and Lorrene Ritchie from the Nutrition Policy Institute, Deepa Srivastava and Marisa Neelon from the University of California's Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Abbey Alkon and Victoria Keeton from UC, San Francisco and the California Childcare Health Program. The project was funded by a grant from UC ANR.