RESOURCES AND LINKS
Farm to School
http://www.farmtoschool.org/index.php
Farm to School connects schools (K-12) and local farms with the objectives of serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, improving student nutrition, providing agriculture, health and nutrition education opportunities, and supporting local and regional farmers. This growing farm to school movement is supported by eight regional lead agencies that comprise the National Farm to School Network, which offers training and technical assistance, information services, networking, and support in policy and media and marketing activities. The website includes hundreds of profiles of farm to school sites, from a cadre of over 9,000 schools from over 2,000 school districts.
Healthy Schools Campaign
http://www.healthyschoolscampaign.org/
Healthy Schools Campaign (HSC), an independent not-for-profit organization, is the leading authority on healthy school environments and a voice for people who care about our environment, our children, and education. It advocates for policies and practices that allow all students, teachers and staff to learn and work in a healthy school environment. HSC prepares school stakeholders—students, parents, teachers, school nurses, administrators, community members and others—to become leaders in efforts to create change at the school, district, state and national levels.
Healthy School Lunches
http://www.healthyschoollunches.org/
The Healthy School Lunch Campaign, sponsored by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), is dedicated to improving the food served to children in schools by educating government and school officials, food service workers, parents, and others about the food choices best able to promote children’s current and long-term health. The campaign’s key message: Foods served in schools should promote the health of all children. The Healthy School Lunch Campaign encourages schools to offer more healthy low-fat, cholesterol-free options, including reimbursable meals and beverages, a la carte items, and vending machine items.
Rethinking School Lunch
http://www.ecoliteracy.org/programs/rsl.html
The Rethinking School Lunch (RSL) program uses a systems approach to address the crisis in childhood obesity, provide nutrition education, and teach ecological knowledge. The RSL program includes: a framework for a comprehensive curriculum that integrates campus gardens, kitchen classrooms, school lunch, and a wide range of academic subjects; treats childhood obesity, nutrition-related illness, the quality of school lunches, and children’s ability to learn as related issues; links schools’ food purchasing decisions, the viability of family farms, solid waste generated by the lunchroom, and the environmental cost of shipping food over thousands of miles. RSL also provides a downloadable Model Wellness Policy Guide that provides language and instructions for drafting a Wellness Policy that places health at the center of the academic curriculum.
Lunch Lessons
http://www.chefann.com/
“I’m the renegade lunch lady. My life work is to transform cafeterias into culinary classrooms for students — one school lunch at a time,” writes Ann Cooper, the director of nutrition services for the Berkeley (California) Unified School District. She's a national outspoken activist for serving fresh, sustainable food to kids. Her lively website lunchlessons.org, rounds up recipes, links, and resources for food activism.
See also Ann Cooper talks school lunches | Video on Ted http://www.ted.com/talks/ann_cooper_talks_school_lunches.html
School Lunch: Food Museum Online Exhibit
http://www.foodmuseum.com/exhbitschoollunch.html
This online exhibit from the Food Museum includes photographs and simple text to tell the story of this history of school lunch in the U.S. It also includes a school lunch box exhibit and a school lunch reform issue.
School Lunch Talk
http://www.schoolfoodpolicy.com/
School Lunch Talk dishes out the latest on public school food, from chicken nuggets and chocolate milk to legislation and regulations. In addition to school lunch news and commentary, the website highlights the best and the worst of menus across the country; keeps tabs on school food bills at the federal level; takes a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on in the lunchroom, from menu-planning, to budget woes, to figuring out what to do with USDA commodity beans; examines what students eat for school lunch in other countries; and looks at the hottest items in school food
The Lunch Box
http://www.thelunchbox.org/
Started in September ’09, The Lunch Box is a project of the F3: Food Family Farming Foundation. It is a web-based portal that enables all schools and school districts to make a healthy difference for all children in America by providing relevant information and the pragmatic tools necessary to make good food available for all kids.
See also:
“Congress May Bolster School Lunch Nutrition,” Los Angeles Times, August 26, 2009
“Retooling School Lunch,” Time Magazine, June 11, 2006
“School Lunch: From Bad to Better,” Cape Cod Times, February 5, 2006
“School Lunch Program: The Wisdom of Spending More Money to Provide Healthier Meals,” Washington Post editorial, September 21, 2009
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