General Information | Local Policies | State Policies | Federal Policies | School Wellness Policies
General Info
Afterschool Alliance describes what is advocacy, why you should get involved, how you can do it, and more.
Berkeley Media Studies Group published Issue 1, a brief on media advocacy and how it differs from other ways groups use the mass media.
California Adolescent and Nutrition Fitness Program wrote Policy Recommendations on Nutrition and Physical Activity in Middle Schools, Afterschool Programs, and Communities.
California After School Resource Center lists the state and federal laws that regulate afterschool programs.
California Adolescent and Nutrition Fitness (CANFit) Program wrote 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.
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) presents information about nutrition policy.
How knowledgeable are you about menu labeling? Take this quiz and find out!
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.
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.
Local
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution that enacts a policy to promote community health and reduce obesity for a more liveable San Mateo County on April 4, 2006.
Strategic Alliance's ENACT Local Policy Database documents how many local jurisdictions are working to reshape their schools, communities and institutions. Local policies contribute to meaningful environmental change that spread to different jurisdictions and build support for state and federal policies that influence behavioral norms.
The Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition’s advocacy efforts are listed here along with links to blogs, forums, and more.
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.
SB 965 (Escutia) Healthy Beverage Bill defined school beverage standards for high schools, eliminating the sale of soda and other sweetened beverages on high school campuses in California.
State Nutrition, Physical Activity and Food Security Related Bills. 2007-2008 Assembly and State Bills. Updated Oct. 2007
The Lucile Packard Children’s Center for Healthy Weight tracks state and national legislation related to promoting healthy weight.
California Center for Public Health Advocacy has 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
The Legislative Counsel of California offers updates on today’s events, bill information, California law, your legislature, and legislative publications.
Federal
The Lucile Packard Children’s 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.
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, proposes policy solutions directed at community-level environmental change, and stresses that public policy responses are requisite for this epidemic.
School Wellness Policies
San Mateo County School Districts’ local school wellness policies:
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) describes the basics of a school wellness policy: what it is, how to create one, how to implement and evaluate one; and offers sample policies, implementation tools, resources, and how to fund a local wellness policy.
Food Research and Action Center, (FRAC), is a non-profit organization that offers a guide to school wellness policy, and links to templates and sample school wellness policies.
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 address the special concerns of low-income students in local school wellness policies. The guide provides sample policies, model programs and key research information
Action for Healthy Kids created Better Nutrition and More Physical Activity Can Boost Achievement and Schools' Bottom Line
Action for Healthy Kids’ School Wellness Policy Fact Sheets
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.
California Healthy Kids Resouce Center 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.
California Healthy Kids Resouce Center provides information on how to develop school wellness policies
Center for Environmental Justice wrote Healthy School Food Policy Checklist. It provides a range of ideas for policy components, legislative language, monitoring, and enforcement.
California Healthy Kids Resouce Center offers resources to evaluate school wellness policies.
Healthy Eating Active Communities wrote Nutrition and Physical Activity in California: the Landscape of Funding and the Role of State and Local Public Health Departments.