A recently published study reveals that California students appreciate Universal School Meals, reporting that having meals free of charge for all students made school meals more accessible, reduced stigma, improved food security, and streamlined the process for receiving meals. Prompted by the rise in food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020-2022 the USDA implemented an unprecedented change allowing schools to serve meals free of charge to all students regardless of household income. For many students, school meals are their primary source of nutritious food. This qualitative study, conducted in 9 different regions in California,...
The Nutrition Policy Institute is seeking a University of California graduate student fellow to join our efforts to improve food and nutrition security among currently and formerly incarcerated individuals in California. This fellowship opportunity is part of the 2024-2025 UC Bonnie Reiss Climate Action Fellowship Program, which supports the UC's climate goals by reducing greenhouse gas emission and establishing climate programs and policies centered on equity, sustainability, and resiliency. In addition to working with the NPI Farm to Corrections project team, fellows will participate in...
The Nutrition Policy Institute was established 10 years ago to address the growing nutrition problems in the U.S., where 1 in 6 families lack consistent access to food and more suffer from a nutrition-related chronic condition than do not. Our talented team remains steadfast in our vision to ensure access to nutritious food, beverages and opportunities for physical activity for all through conducting and translating policy-relevant research. To mark our 10-year anniversary, we'd like to share some of our
The School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley was recently granted candidacy for accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics for their new Berkeley Public Health Dietetic Internship program. The program aims to create a new public health dietetic internship model that will prepare students to tackle adaptive changes from clinic to the community and from qualitative and quantitative to policy and food systems. The program is a two-year internship that currently accepts 10 interns annually during the fall who are admitted to the
A recent study finds that comprehensive school-based Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education, also known as SNAP-Ed, interventions focused on improving wellness policies and increasing physical activity opportunities are associated with better student fitness. Researchers identified predominant combinations of school-based, physical activity-focused SNAP-Ed interventions and then looked at how they affected student fitness. Study data included over 442,000 fifth and seventh-grade students attending nearly 4,300 public schools in California communities with low-income in 2016-2017. Students in schools with SNAP-Ed interventions combining policy changes and improved...