Over 13 million Californians participate in safety net programs that provide resources including health insurance, food assistance, and tax credits. The Assessing California Communities' Experiences with Safety Net Supports Survey (ACCESS) is an ongoing study that aims to understand how to improve the delivery of social safety net programs and increase participation of eligible California families. A new ACCESS research brief revealed gaps in the way these support programs met the needs of California households with young children during the COVID pandemic. The research team conducted almost 500 interviews with California households with young children. They found that safety net supports were helpful but insufficient; child care, housing, and mental health supports were resources that families felt were lacking in the current safety net system. Recommendations included developing a more comprehensive and better integrated safety net system that includes affordable child care, adequate income, additional housing support, and mental health care. This research both informs future emergency preparedness and ongoing conversations to improve the existing safety net. The ACCESS research team is led by Lia Fernald from UC Berkeley, Wendi Gosliner from the Nutrition Policy Institute, and Rita Hamad from UC San Francisco. This work was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation with additional support from the Tipping Point Foundation and the UC Berkeley Population Center.

The Nutrition Policy Institute at the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources has commented in support of the US Department of Agriculture's "Child Nutrition Programs: Revisions to Meal Patterns Consistent With the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans" proposed new “durable” rule, which would enhance school nutrition standards. The proposed rule aligns school meal nutrition requirements with the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), as required by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. NPI welcomes and strongly supports the USDA's proposed limits on added sugars in school lunch and breakfast program meals. Extensive research has linked the consumption of added sugars to chronic diseases such as obesity, metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease, cardiovascular disease, and dental decay.  However, NPI added an important caveat to the proposed limits on added sugars, stating, “Nutrition Policy Institute strongly recommends that the USDA include language in the rule that restricts substitute sweeteners (e.g., artificial sweeteners, low and non-caloric sweeteners) in school meals, and explicitly not allow product reformulations that use substitute sweeteners in place of added sugars until such time as studies are conducted to assure our nation's children of their long-term safety.” Additionally, NPI commended the USDA for their inclusion of whole grains, reduced sodium, increased variety of fruits and vegetables, and traditional food options for Indigenous children, and for investment in technical assistance to school districts through the Healthy Meals Incentive Program. NPI points out that the US population is largely unhealthy, with only 12% of Americans metabolically healthy, and concludes that setting strong nutrition standards for school meals would help support the nutrition and health of more than 30 million school-age children receiving school lunches, and 15 million children receiving school breakfasts. The public comment window for the proposed revisions closes on May 10, 2023.

The National Drinking Water Alliance, coordinated by the Nutrition Policy Institute, has summarized its progress in the drinking water space from 2021 and 2022. The summary includes policy highlights such as providing drinking water safety recommendations to the White House and the allocation of $55 billion for water in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. NDWA also advocated for actions for robust implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act provisions that mandate safe drinking water access in schools and childcare facilities and commented on proposed revisions to the Environmental Protection Agency's Lead and Copper Rule with recommendations from the latest science on tap-water lead testing. NDWA members developed resources including Increase Healthy Beverage Consumption and Reduce Sugar-Sweetened Beverages: A Community Roadmap for Native communities. The NDWA is a network of organizations and individuals working to ensure that all children in the US can drink safe water in the places where they live, learn and play.

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.