HOST HEPA Roundup, December 1, 2015

The latest in our regular roundups of healthy eating and physical activity news from HOST members and others.

News

• Action for Healthy Kids shares how Grandview Elementary School in West Virginia is improving opportunities for physical activity, indoors and out.
• Saleah Blancaflor of Afterschool Works! NY: the New York State Afterschool Network, writes in a guest post for Afterschool Alliance about how she is working "to increase participation in the state of New York’s Child and Adult Food Care Program (CACFP), so that the state’s afterschool programs can receive funding and reimbursements for snacks and meals provided to their children."
• The National League of Cities’ Congress of Cities in Nashville, NLC honored 36 cities and counties, and five city leaders, for their leadership and commitment to preventing childhood obesity and improving community health, including through out-of-school time programs.
• The Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project spoke with Bridgette Matthews, school nutrition director for Elbert County Schools in Elberton Georgia, and a peer mentor with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Team Up for School Nutrition Success Initiative, about her experience with nutrition education and how staff training is helping to improve school meals.
• The Safe Routes to School National Partnership reviews the state of policies for physical activity, asserting that "To increase physical activity opportunities available through schools over the long term, we need to put it in writing – through policy."

Research

• More principals across the country are touting the impact of "breakfast after the bell" programs, according to a new report from the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). They cite higher participation in school breakfast among low-income children and an improved school environment.

Resources

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with federal, professional, and non-profit organizations, has developed a set of online resources called Parents for Healthy Schools. School groups such as parent-teacher associations and school wellness committees can use the materials to engage parents in creating healthy school environments.
• A new video produced by the Afterschool Alliance shows "how child nutrition programs provide essential support in keeping their participants full and focused between lunch and dinner."