Feeding America published a new resource, the Nutrition in Food Banking Toolkit, aimed to guide the charitable food sector to better meet the nutritional and cultural food needs of people they serve. The toolkit, released on March 23, 2021, was developed by Feeding America's Nutritious Food Revisioning Task Force, made up of more than a dozen food banks and national organization staff, with input and expertise from partnering organizations. This first edition of the Nutrition in Food Banking Toolkit is composed of three main sections, each focused on a different aspect of the charitable food system. Healthy Eating Research (HER) Nutrition Guidelines for the Charitable Food System provides recommendations to improve the quality of food in food banks and food pantries in order to increase access to healthier food for food-insecure households. Applying an Intercultural Competence Lens provides insights and recommendations for developing nutrition-related cultural competence at the organizational, partner, and individual levels. Role of Food Bank Nutrition Policies: A Guide to Action provides food banks with strategies to achieve nutrition policies that lead to a more nutritious food supply. The final section on food bank nutrition policies was developed by University of California (UC) Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) researcher Karen Webb and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources advisor Laura Vollmer. This section was adapted from NPI's Guide to Drafting a Food Bank Nutrition Policy, which was created for the online course Developing a Food Bank Nutrition Policy. Toolkit partners include Healthy Eating Research (HER); the CDC's Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research and Evaluation Network; UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity; UC NPI; MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger; Partnership for a Healthier America; and Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The toolkit is available online.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
A suite of new templates and tools are now available in the UC ANR Branding Tookit 2.0 http://ucanr.edu/sites/toolkit/. New tools include templates for PowerPoint presentations, newsletters, and letterhead. Building on original Toolkit designs and color schemes, the new templates are cleaner and more usable. The designs also take up less space and comply with guidelines for the use of the UC seal. We’ve worked to simplify Toolkit 2.0 based on your feedback and use of the earlier Toolkit’s resources. We also included more elements of the UC ANR continuum while strengthening our common connection to the University of California.
Building on the foundation of the first Toolkit and with the launch of the ucanr.edu domain, our goal with Toolkit 2.0 is to provide a consistent and adaptable look and a coherent branding system for UC ANR’s statewide programs, UC Cooperative Extension and the Agriculture Experiment Station. Toolkit 2.0’s new resources connect us to each other and will better inform the people we serve.
In addition to the updated graphic resources and templates in Toolkit 2.0, we have established a consistent set of naming conventions for identifying UC ANR academics and their titles. These and other useful communications conventions are posted in the ANR writing style guide (http://ucanr.org/sites/Toolkit/How-to-guides/ANR_Writing_Style_Guide) and will be used in news releases, web content, business cards and other UC ANR communications.
Of course, the broader UC ANR community utilizes a number of naming conventions and identities.
Although no one system will meet all needs, too many forms of identification confuse our audiences and our supporters. The work that you do proves that the University of California's Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources is the bridge between local issues and the power of UC research. It is UC ANR's advisors, specialists, and faculty who bring practical, science-based answers to Californians.
More templates will be added in the coming months, including templates for truck signage and event banners.
I encourage you to make use of these tools and take every opportunity to identify yourself and your accomplishments as UC ANR. If you have any questions about the use of Toolkit 2.0, suggestions for improvement, or examples you are proud to share, please contact me (rwsams@ucanr.edu) or Cynthia Kintigh (cckintigh@ucanr.edu).
Bob Sams,
Executive Director, CSIT
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This announcement is also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.
- Author: Cynthia Kintigh
The Strategic Vision Toolkit was launched this week. (Hooray!) One of our primary goals with the toolkit is consistency so that communications, both print and electronic, have a common look and feel. This is important in communicating that we are all part of the same brand family and building brand awareness, but on the Web it has another important role.
In an earlier post I wrote about the publication Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug. In this very readable book, Krug highlights the importance of navigational signposts on the Web and uses brick-and-mortar stores as an example.
Let's say you're in a Target store. Most Target stores have a similar layout, so that customers can find the departments and the items they're looking for easily and quickly. Signage is well placed and highly visible, so shoppers can find their way around the store. You know where the front door is because you walked through it.
But once you're on the Web, it's a whole different ballgame. Those physical signposts aren't there to let you know you're in the right place. A few misplaced clicks and you have no idea where you are or how you got there.
So what do Web visitors rely on to make sure they're in the right place?
Good Web sites have a navigation system all their own - visual landmarks. These visual landmarks are color, fonts, styling, and placement information that let visitors know they're in the right place as they move from page to page within your site.
Jake Kupiec, who some of you met at the Statewide Meeting last spring, calls these systems "khakis and a white shirt." They're the basic foundation of an organization's look. Not a uniform, but a foundation.
The toolkit gives you these visual landmarks through a series of customizable templates. And once launched, you'll find the toolkit elements are built into Site Builder 3.