General Info | Local | State | Federal | General Information About Advocacy | School Wellness Policies
General Info
What is Media Advocacy? And how does it differ from the other ways groups use the mass media? Issue 1 shows how local groups use media advocacy to focus upstream on policy change and explains why that's so important.
Local
Strategic Alliance's ENACT Local Policy Database. Recognizing that local decisions such as community design and product availability can influence eating and activity behaviors, many local jurisdictions are working to reshape their schools, communities and institutions. Local policy has been a pivotal catalyst in addressing public health challenges as diverse as violence prevention and tobacco control. Local policies contribute to meaningful environmental change that spread to different jurisdictions and build support for state and federal policies that influence behavioral norms. Use the search tools to find one or more local policies that are of interest to you.
Resolution enacting a policy to promote community health, reduce obesity for a more livable community
Local issues affecting bicyclists in San Mateo County
State
SB 12 (Escutia) School Nutrition Standards Summary established the most rigorous nutrition standards in the country for food sold anywhere on school campuses outside the school meal program. The law, which goes into effect July 1, 2007, established limits on fat and sugar content and portion size on all foods sold a la carte, in vending machines or school stores, or as part of a school fundraiser. SB 12 was sponsored by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, the California School Boards Association, Governor Schwarzenegger, and many other supporters.
SB 965 (Escutia) Healthy Beverage Bill "Assuring Nutritious Drinks in California Schools" bill defined school beverage standards for high schools, eliminating the sale of soda and other sweetened beverages on high school campuses in California. Similar standards had already been established for elementary and middle schools through SB 677 (Ortiz, 2003, see below). Half of the beverages sold on high school campuses must meet these standards by July 1, 2007. All beverages sold on high school campuses must meet these standards by July 1, 2009. SB 965 was sponsored by Governor Schwarzenegger and had a long list of supporters.
State Nutrition, Physical Activity and Food Security Related Bills. 2007-2008 Assembly and State Bills. Updated Oct. 2007
Center for Healthy Weight tracks state and national legislation related to promoting healthy weight.
California Center for Public Health Advocacy – updated information regarding state legislation on the built environment, access to healthy food, nutrition, physical activity, physical education, school food, and other related bills
Nutrition Action Update by California Food Policy Advocates
Federal
Center for Healthy Weight tracks state and national legislation related to promoting healthy weight. The National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity (NANA) advocates national policies and programs to promote healthy eating and physical activity to help reduce the illnesses, disabilities, premature deaths, and costs caused by diet-and inactivity-related diseases such as heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity. NANA is made up of more than 275 organizations – steering committee members, national organizations, and state/local organizations.
General Information About Advocacy
What is advocacy, why you should get involved, how you can get involved and more.
Official site for California Legislative information is maintained by the Legislative Counsel of California, pursuant to California law. Includes information on events, bill information, California law, your legislature, and legislative publications.
Policy Recommendations on Nutrition and Physical Activity in Middle Schools, Afterschool Programs, and Communities.
Afterschool programs regulated by state and federal law
Communities of Color Briefing Paper: Addressing the Obesity Epidemic-Public Policies for Healthier Eating and Physical Activity. This brief describes social and environmental factors that contribute to childhood obesity from the perspective of communities of color, propose policy solutions directed at community-level environmental change, and stresses that public policy responses are requisite for this epidemic.
Reading Between the Lines: Understanding Food Industry Responses to Concerns About Nutrition
A 6 1/2 minute video, "Places Where Healthy Choices Are Possible" developed by Healthy Eating Active Communities, portrays the key role environments play in supporting or not supporting good nutrition and physical activity. It is a useful advocacy and education tool for introducing the concept of food and physical activity environments.
Strengthen the national school lunch and other child nutrition programs
Menu labeling quiz
The Food Trust provides nutrition education services to communities through seasonal farmers' markets and school markets. The Trust also helps to expand the supply of food resources available to low-income communities through advocacy, by creating model programs, and by undertaking research studies on food disparities and disseminating their findings to government officials and policy-makers. Collectively, these efforts are addressing the systemic issues that prevent our food and farming system from adequately serving hundreds of thousands of individuals throughout the region every year.
The Healthy Eating, Active Communities Program is designed to demonstrate how collaborative approaches can change environmental risk factors. It engages youth, families, community leaders, health professionals and communities in creating healthy environments in order to facilitate healthy choices, particularly in low-income communities. It does this by increasing understanding and awareness of the environmental influences on food choices, physical activity behavior and the health consequences of poor diets and physical inactivity, and by involving communities directly in program and policy efforts to improve local food and physical activity environments. The result of this program will be a reduction in environmental risk factors for obesity and diabetes among school-aged children.
Adult obesity rates rose in 31 states in 2006. Twenty-two states experienced an increase for the second year in a row; no states decreased. A new public opinion survey featured in the report finds 85 percent of Americans believe that obesity is an epidemic. TFAH recommends a comprehensive approach for helping individuals make healthy choices including support from families, communities, schools, employers, the food and beverage industries, health professionals, and government at all levels.
School Wellness Policies
San Mateo County School Districts’ local school wellness policies:
Click here to read about school wellness policies.
Site provides links to what is a school wellness policy; how to create, implement and evaluate a school wellness policy; sample policies; implementation tools and resources and funding a local wellness policy.
School Nutrition Association's Wellness Policy web page for policy guidelines, sample policies, and additional resources.
School Wellness Policy and Practice: Meeting the Needs of Low-Income Students is a guide for anti-hunger advocates, parents and school community leaders that addresses the special concerns of low-income students in local school wellness policies. The guide provides sample policies, model programs and key research information that are important tools to address the nutrition concerns of low-income children and communities in the development of school wellness policies.
Better Nutrition and More Physical Activity Can Boost Achievement and Schools' Bottom Line
Wellness Policy Fact Sheets
Food Research and Action Center, non-profit organization that displays guide to school wellness policy, template, school wellness policies
With input from state teams and partner organizations, Action for Healthy Kids has gathered wellness policies from districts and states across the nation to provide examples of language and guidelines.
This website features the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004, Menu Planning Approaches for National School Lunch Program, and other state and federal policies related to nutrition, physical education, and healthy education.
Information on how to develop school wellness policies
Healthy School Food Policy Checklist provides a range of ideas for policy components, legislative language, monitoring, and enforcement.
This website offers resources to evaluate school wellness policies.
Nutrition and Physical Activity in California: the Landscape of Funding and the Role of State and Local Public Health Departments