Partnerships

FNS Working with Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) Agencies

• Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Head Start Nutrition Education Advisory Committee - FNS serves on the committee to: 1) Review the present needs for nutrition education for children, staff and parents of Head Start, 2) Consider existing preschool nutrition curricula, audiovisuals and other materials, called upon to serve on Federal Focus Groups related to regulations and guidance in areas of health and nutrition component 3) Consider how Head Start grantees can critique the sources, and 4) Make recommendations to the Head Start Bureau for a comprehensive nutrition education action plan. 

• Breastfeeding Promotion Consortium (BPC) - FNS co-hosts, with DHHS, biannual meetings of the BPC to exchange ideas on how the Federal government and private health organizations can collaboratively promote breastfeeding as the optimal form of infant nutrition. The BPC includes representatives from over 30 partnering organizations and Federal agencies. 

• FNS and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - FNS and FDA signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop the Power of Choice. The Power of Choice is a healthy lifestyle initiative designed to involve kids and give them a chance to explore the links between health, food choices, food safety, and fitness. The kit contains sessions on making healthy food and activity choices, 150+ reproducible Nutrition Fact Labels, a reproducible recipe booklet, a PowerPoint presentation, music and a song, and a training guide and video for the leaders. 

• Healthy People 2010 Nutrition Work Group - This group works to coordinate periodic reviews of progress towards the HP 2000 nutrition objectives and develop the HP2010 nutrition objectives. Healthy People 2010 is a set of health objectives for the Nation to achieve over the first decade of the new century.   

• Joint USDA/DHHS Nutrition Education Committee for Maternal and Child Nutrition Publications - This committee provides a systematic mechanism for USDA and DHHS Agencies to report plans and progress related to maternal and child nutrition education to avoid duplication and facilitate coordination and make more effective use of resources. 

• Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), DHHS - FNS and MCHB communicate and coordinate on numerous prenatal, infant and child issues and concerns that support Program goals such as breastfeeding promotion and support activities, and Bright Futures in Practice: Nutrition Guide.

Bright Futures - This initiative of the Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Bureau is a national health promotion initiative dedicated to the principle that every child deserves to be healthy and that optimal health involves a trusting relationship between the health professional, the child, the family, and the community as partners in health practice.

Bright Futures for Infants, Children, and Adolescents Program (BFICAP) - The mission is to promote and improve the health and well being of infants, children, and adolescents.

Bright Futures for Women's Health and Wellness (BFWHW) - The vision is to achieve physical, mental, social, and spiritual health, Bright Futures for Women's Health and Wellness identifies opportunities for integrating prevention into self-care, culturally competent health care, and community action.

Maternal and Child Health Interorganizational Nutrition Group (MCHING) - Partnership of national, professional, voluntary, and federal agencies concerned with improving nutrition status of mothers, children and families through interorganizational collaboration and action.

National Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies Coalition - To promote public education efforts in maternal and child health through collaborative activities and the sharing of information among professional, voluntary, and government organizations.

• Nutrition and Physical Activity Work Group (NUPAWG) - FNS is the USDA representative to NUPAWG, a consultative group to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division on Nutrition and Physical Activity (CDC-DNPA). NUPAWG represents key national, state, and local public health and education partners, working together to improve the nation's dietary and physical activity practices. 

• Secretary's Advisory Committee on Infant Mortality (SACIM) - FNS is part of the SACIM that is sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The purpose of SACIM is to advise the Secretary of HHS on Department programs which are directed at reducing infant mortality and improving the health status of pregnant women and infants. SACIM also provides advice on how best to coordinate the variety of Federal, State, local and private programs and efforts that are designed to deal with the health and social problems impacting on infant mortality.

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