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Overview
and Vision
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Nancy
Montanez Johner
Undersecretary
Food, Nutrition and Consumer
Services |
Message from Under Secretary Johner
One of the Nation's most pressing
health challenges is poor diet and
inactivity. Over 19 percent of children
and 66 percent of adults are overweight.
If current trends continue through 2020,
treating the consequences of obesity may
consume up to one-fifth of health care
expenditures - a trend with serious
implications not only for the health of
the Nation, but for the fiscal welfare
of State governments that must bear a
substantial share of these costs.
The Federal nutrition assistance
programs administered by the United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
are powerful tools to address these
problems. Nutrition assistance programs,
which reach one in five Americans in the
course of a year at a cost of over $50
billion, provide more than food
benefits. They are also the largest
single funder of nutrition education in
the Nation. In 2006, over $650 million
was provided through the Food and
Nutrition Service (FNS) for nutrition
education, counseling, and prevention
services, mostly in the form of grants
to State agencies. As Under Secretary
for Food, Nutrition and Consumer
Services, I am committed to working with
you to make the best possible use of
every dollar we invest in these
important efforts.
We believe that we can achieve more
by coordinating our efforts across the
nutrition assistance programs at
Federal, State, and local levels. To
that end, we encourage cross program
collaboration in our guidance for State
plans and grants, and have established
cross-program policies. To support
collaboration at the operational level,
FNS launched the State Nutrition Action
Plans (SNAP) initiative to foster closer
coordination among the various nutrition
assistance programs within each State.
Through SNAP, State agencies work
together to plan and implement nutrition
education to achieve a common statewide
goal. During the National Nutrition
Education Conference in 2005, we took
SNAP to the next level through a series
of sessions designed to showcase States'
progress, elaborate on the Federal
vision for SNAP, and highlight emerging
strategies for strengthening the
nutrition education connections among
nutrition assistance programs.
As we move forward, I ask that you
further engage your staff and peers at
other agencies that administer FNS
programs to support SNAP and maintain
the momentum we have built together. For
example:
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Encourage
program staff to work and
collaborate with other nutrition
assistance programs to achieve
common goals.
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Work
proactively with colleagues in other
departments to formalize an ongoing
collaborative approach and develop
long-term strategies.
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Attend
and take an active role in upcoming
cross-program nutrition education
and SNAP team meetings.
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Share
your achievements and utilize the
information about other State's
activities on the SNAP web pages to
inform your efforts.
I truly believe that working together
we will make a difference.
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Last Updated: 07/17/2008
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