“I get my food stamps on the 5th and I try to make them last for a month, but that’s really difficult, because toddlers waste a lot of food” said Colleen, a mother struggling to feed her child. “Trying to get him to eat vegetables or anything like that is really hard. I just get stuff that he likes, which isn’t always the best stuff.’’ Colleen struggles with the same challenge most mothers do in feeding a toddler - they are picky and slow to embrace new foods. But she struggles with the added burden of poverty and trying to make her food dollars stretch.

Why This Matters

While schools provide an opportunity to meet children’s nutritional needs, they can only go so far: 50%-70% of calories on school days, not to mention all weekend and summer meals, come from home. One principal in the Oakland Unified School District said that breakfast participation at her school was far higher on Monday morning, “They are just incredibly hungry. They just haven’t eaten all weekend. They haven’t eaten when they come in.”

And what about the years prior to children entering the public school system? These first years of a child’s life are critical not only to the health and development of bodies and brains--but also in shaping palates and lifetime eating habits.

Our Approach

Supporting healthy homes starts with meeting basic needs for food. At the same time, we want to support targeted interventions that promote an early start to healthy eating by reaching the youngest of our children with an adequate, nutritious diet. Finally, working with families to adopt and sustain healthy habits is key for setting Bay Area children up for a lifetime of healthy-eating success.

Meeting Basic Needs: Federal food programs are the first line of defense in helping hungry children. The largest is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (known as CalFresh in California and formerly known as Food Stamps). Research shows CalFresh is one of the most important programs for protecting kids from poverty. Although we have seen improvement, California does not take full advantage of CalFresh with only 66% of those eligible enrolled. When CalFresh participation is low, our kids lose out. In the Bay Area, 59% of CalFresh recipients are kids.

While stigma is a barrier to CalFresh participation, we heard that federal advocacy is a major focus just to maintain current benefits. Beyond advocacy, there is an opportunity to improve enrollment systems. The process of applying (and reapplying) for benefits is bureaucratic, discouraging individuals from even attempting to enroll or causing them to fall off. Programs like Code for America are using technology focused on the user experience to reduce the time it takes to apply from 45 minutes to 10 minutes and allow people to do so from their mobile phones.

Filling in the gaps of the federal food programs are local and nonprofit programs, like food banks. Food banks are getting healthy, nutritious food to children and their families; the groceries our food banks in the Bay Area provide are 56-66% fresh produce. Yet stigma attached to accepting a handout from a food bank prevents them from reaching all those in need. We heard from nearly every expert that the recent climate around immigration is preventing many from accessing services.

Food banks are innovating to overcome these challenges. They are expanding mobile food pantries and meals at libraries to meet the needs of children when school is not in session. And food banks are at the forefront of thinking of food as medicine: Alameda County is starting a “Food as Medicine” campaign which will partner with hospitals, clinics and food banks to prescribe and deliver nutritious food to families to improve their health.

Battery Powered previously explored Early Childhood Education. The link between good nutrition, brain development, and early education are undisputed. By taking a deeper dive on Childhood Nutrition, we also advance Early Childhood Education.

Early Start: Much of the foundation of who we are, and what we will become, is laid-out in the first 5 years of life. This includes our behaviors around food and healthy eating. To address food insecurity in these early years, the federally-funded Women, Infant and Children program (WIC) provides health and nutrition support for pregnant women, new mothers and children under the age of 5. However, enrollment declines for children after the age of 1. It also requires in-person check-ups, which is a disincentive to working mothers or those with limited access to transportation. Increasing participation in WIC, through user friendly improvements to enrollment, appointment scheduling and purchase of WIC approved foods, is a key opportunity to reach our most vulnerable children.

Early childcare environments are another opportunity to reach children during these critical years. About 60% of children under 5 are in some form of non-parental care. And for those from low-income families, their meals are likely eligible for reimbursement. The Child and Adult Care Food Program provides reimbursement for meals and sets nutritional standards for licensed child care facilities. While there is room for improvement, centers participating serve healthier meals than centers that do not. But many day cares may not realize they are eligible or be deterred from applying given the bureaucratic application process.

In 2012, a state law went into effect requiring that safe drinking water be readily available throughout the day, eliminating beverages with added sugars and limiting juice to one serving per day at child care facilities. Now organizations and research institutes are partnering with facilities in California to test nutritional standards with the aim of creating policies that meet the nutritional needs of our young children, bolster the quality of care, and support the child care workforce.

Sustaining Healthy Habits: The food and beverage industry spends nearly $10 billion a year on television advertisements for kids, with 90% of these ads promoting products high in sugar, fat, or sodium. Meanwhile, standards about what is “healthy” seem to be constantly changing. It’s no wonder that some of our basic knowledge about nutrition gets lost in translation. And for parents, who want to please their kids and may have little time to prepare meals, the less healthy options that provide more calories quickly may feel like the best option. Sustaining healthy eating habits in our children starts with educating their caregivers on how to purchase and prepare nutritious food.

One way to support families to access healthy options is through double-up food bucks or voucher programs. Building on nearly a decade of pilots, these programs encourage CalFresh recipients to purchase fruits and vegetables while supporting local food vendors and farmers. Programs include EatSF and Market Match. EatSF provides families with $20-$40 of vouchers each month to purchase fruits and vegetables while Market Match doubles CalFresh dollars spent on fresh produce at farmers markets up to $10 per visit to a farmers market.

Photo Credit: Center for Ecoliteracy

Community gardening programs can also increase access to fresh produce and provide hands on nutrition education. Studies show that individuals who participate in a community garden or urban farm program, and their family members, eat more fruits and vegetables.

Supporting healthy families and communities goes beyond meeting basic nutrition needs: families require tools to leverage government and food bank support. These tools may include nutrition and cooking classes, which teach families how and why to cook quick, healthy meals on a budget and community gardening programs which foster an appreciation for working together to grow and harvest fresh fruits and vegetables. Holistic services that go beyond providing access to healthy food can set the foundation for healthier Bay Area children.

RESOURCES

Family & Community

Why This Matters

Our Approach