REAL Food in Schools Collaborative

Catalyzing a New Food Culture in Mt. Diablo Schools

Model and Strategy

Single channel strategies alone have not been successful in stemming the tide of obesity and diabetes in a challenging food environment. We need to impact kids’ lives across multiple touchpoints and shift their entire food culture. Our multifaceted, collaborative approach includes moving to REAL Certified food service, turning cafeterias into learning spaces for cooking and nutrition, using garden classrooms to integrate healthier food knowledge and culture into the school day, and afterschool programs with family involvement. Through this synergistic array of evidence-based programs, we can catalyze lifelong wellness and achievement for 32,000 children and their families in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District (MDUSD), which spans 8 cities in the vast Hwy 680 corridor of the East Bay. We will also document metrics of success for this multichannel model and codify our REAL food service procedures to export them to other districts.

Impact

We will increase access to healthy foods in schools through cafeteria changes using the science-based REAL certification process. A new central warehouse will improve fresh food provisioning to the district’s 47 cafeterias and increase local procurement to 40%. All 47 cafeterias will become REAL Certified as serving healthy meals within two years. Specific commitments to REAL food will be integrated into the District Wellness Policy. Food service staff trained as culinary educators will turn cafeterias into classrooms for cooking and nutrition for students and their families. Our multifaceted garden, nutrition, and cooking education programs will inspire a love of fresh, healthful foods in children at a time in their lives that research shows to be especially formative for lifelong eating habits. We will implement new garden programs in 3 additional high-need schools and new cafeteria education programs at 2 more schools, working across 10 or more elementary schools in all. Garden lessons will connect to Next Generation Science and Common Core standards to support student achievement and help principals and teachers justify use of instructional hours for these programs. Institutionalizing our processes is central to our work, and a district-level model for sustaining this integrated approach will be a key outcome. This will also support exporting our successful model and practices to other school districts across the region and nation for wider impacts.
Project image 1
Project image 2
Project image 3

Leadership

  • Larry

    Larry Ruff

    CEO, Eat REAL

  • Don

    Don Burgett

    Executive Director, Life Lab

  • Pamela

    Pamela Singh

    Executive Director, Wellness In Action

  • Jennifer

    Jennifer Sachs

    Executive Director, Instructional Support, MDUSD

  • Dominic

    Dominic Machi

    Food and Nutrition Services Director, MDUSD