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Breakout Session II—Hunger, Nutrition,
and Health: The Expanding Nutrition Assistance Agenda
Part 2: Strategies to Harness Nutrition Assistance
for a Healthy, Productive Society
Moderator: Lynn Parker
Speakers: Janice Dodds, Katherine Brieger,
Phyllis Griffith
Recorders: Susan Ponemon,
Nick Gurick, Suzanne Rigby
Purpose: Widespread
deployment of nutrition assistance programs originated in the context
of poverty and income support. We now know that the effect of these
programs goes beyond reducing poverty-induced hunger to improving
diet, nutrition, and, ultimately, health. This session focused on
opportunities to build and strengthen the links between nutrition
assistance, good nutrition, and health. The session consisted of
two parts, each with a panel of three presenters.
Goal: To identify what nutrition assistance
programs can do to encourage the development of a healthy lifestyle
and dietary patterns and better support work.
- Broadening Program Access to Meet the Public Health
Challenge
- Putting Nutrition into Nutrition Assistance
- How School Nutrition Programs Impact Health and
Interact with the Dietary Guidelines
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How to Build Strong Community
Food Systems
Janice Dodds, University of North Carolina
A supportive community food system is important for
food security and is characterized by diverse resources and high
potential access for all members of the community. Neighborhoods
with many low-income households tend to have more food banks than
grocery stores, supermarkets, or restaurants. Assets to developing
local food systems are economic development, good law enforcement,
youth job training, strong schools, safe housing, and leadership.
Based on the model in Building Communities From the
Inside Out, what steps can communities take to develop a local food
system from the ground up?
- Map assets—individuals, citizen associations,
local institutions.
- Build relationships—with associations and
other assets.
- Mobilize—develop local economy and control
community information.
- Convene the community—develop vision, plan,
and solve problems.
- Leverage outside resources—work to bring in
grocery stores that will offer reasonable prices and decent quality
food.
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Farmworker Access to Nutrition
Assistance Programs
Katherine Brieger, Peekskill Area Health
Center
The migrant farmworker is part of a population facing
unique food insecurity issues. There are limited statistics about
farmworkers, but a large percentage are foreign-born, their average
age is 29, their education is limited, and their income—which
is dependent upon the weather—averages about 61 percent below
the Federal poverty level.
Many farmworker families have limited kitchen facilities.
Nearly one-third of the workers surveyed reported food shortages,
yet only 10 percent of them received WIC or food stamps. They are
not accessing food programs or other government services because
they do not have transportation, language skills, program information,
or eligibility documentation.
How can we improve outreach to farmworkers?
- Increase migrant health center funding.
- Provide funding to recruit trained lay health outreach
workers.
- Recruit bicultural and bilingual workers.
- Expand office hours.
- Develop outreach tools that reflect the farmworker
community.
- Simplify participation in nutrition-assistance
programs.
- Streamline applications.
- Expand nutrition and health data on farmworkers.
- Increase funding for projects that link services
and information at the national level.
- Identify other concerns of farmworkers.
- The length of time farmworker families spend in
a particular location has been increasing, however, appropriate
support programs do not permit longer periods of residency.
- Reciprocity is not always given for health care
benefits as farmworker families cross State lines.
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Benefits and Challenges of
School Meals
Phyllis Griffith, American School Food
Service Association
School meal programs have proven effective in delivering
nutritious meals to America's children. Children participating in
school breakfast and lunch programs have been found to have higher
intakes of most nutrients than non-participants do. These programs
are particularly critical in serving children at risk for food insecurity.
However, the pressures placed on school food service programs to
meet profit goals established by their districts, and the availability
of other foods sold on campuses outside of the school food service
program to raise funds for school and student activities, detract
from student participation in nutrition programs.
How can Federal policy promote the maximum participation
in school nutrition programs?
- The Secretary should have the statutory authority
to regulate all food sales on campuses at least until after the
lunch period.
- Schools should be required to provide a sufficient
number of lunch periods of reasonable duration to ensure that
all children have a minimum of 10 minutes for breakfast and 20
minutes for lunch after they receive their meal.
- Federal policy should recommend that students play
first and then return to the classroom after lunch.
- Federal, State, and local governments should allocate
sufficient funds to schools to reduce or eliminate the need to
supplement budgets with on-campus fundraising.
- Congress should fund nutrition education to the
full extent authorized.
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Audience Comments Following the Panel Presentations
- Develop a comprehensive national food security
policy that looks at food as a human right and a family need.
- Undertake studies that will present our legislators
with hard data about the nutritional needs of our diverse populations.
- Convince employers to pay their employees a living
wage.
- Redesign food stamps as a public health program
that allows clients to maintain their dignity and makes them feel
welcome and cared for, such as the WIC program.
- Increase food stamp allotments.
- Increase the allotments for recipients who are
on medically prescribed special diets.
- Use Electronic Benefit Transfer to fund approved
foods, and offer discounts for purchasing nutritionally desirable
foods.
- Make nutrition assistance programs more seamless
throughout the life cycle and easier to access.
- Treat people with dignity and eliminate the stigma
that discourages families from participating.
- Make breakfast, lunch, and snacks available free
to all children.
- Expand nutrition services to older adults to help
them stay healthy at home rather than having them institutionalized.
- Restore funding for the Nutrition Education and
Training Program and for food stamp nutrition education grants.
- Extend benefits to legal residents and aliens.
- Underscore "nutrition" in all of our assistance
programs.
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