World Food Programme Hunger Map

Posted on August 15, 2011 by endchildhungerblog

 

This comes to us via a great post on Google+ by Valeria Maltoni.  It’s a world hunger overview infographic, just produced by the World Food Programme. Informative, and sobering. The link to the full-size map is here.

 

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Watchdog: USDA To Audit School Food Service Companies

Posted on July 13, 2011 by endchildhungerblog

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s watchdog arm plans to look closely at whether the food-service-management companies running many school cafeterias are passing along all the discounts and rebates they receive from their suppliers to the districts that hire them.

Education Week reports that the audit will begin in August, according to a lawyer in the USDA’s office of inspector general . It was triggered in part by a settlement between the New York state attorney general and Sodexo, one of several large companies in the business of running school cafeterias. Last July, Sodexo, a French company with its U.S. headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md., agreed to pay $20 million to resolve allegations that it had over-charged 21 school districts and the State University of New York system for some of the food provided to students.

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“Let’s Get To Work” – NOT

Posted on July 6, 2011 by endchildhungerblog
Meet Governor Rick Scott 
Florida Govenor Rick Scott
WHY IS THIS MAN SMILING?

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Pink slips are going out to more than 1,600 state workers in the next two days (by Friday), a grim reminder of the human toll of the austere spending plan approved by lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott this spring. They join the ranks of tens of thousands of teachers, first responders and others who served the most needy of our state’s citizens.

The Department of Children and Families and the Department of Juvenile Justice will suffer most of the staff cuts. DCF is laying off 679 employees and DJJ is trimming 706.

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Good Nutrition News For Florida Kids!

Posted on June 23, 2011 by endchildhungerblog

This just in, and finally there’s a bit of good news on the child nutrition front:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –  June 23, 2011

Tallahassee, FL – Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam issued the following statement today in response to Governor Rick Scott signing the Healthy Schools for Healthy Lives Act (S.B. 1312) into law:

“Today, Governor Rick Scott signed the Healthy Schools for Healthy Lives Act (S.B. 1312) into law. I applaud Governor Scott for embracing our collective effort to improve nutrition in school cafeterias across the State of Florida. Together, we’re going to direct more of Florida’s fresh fruits and vegetables to Florida students. We’re going to help Florida’s children build healthier eating habits. And we’re going to take on the challenges of the childhood obesity epidemic. I want to personally thank Representative Seth McKeel and Senator Gary Siplin for their leadership in this effort. With the Healthy Schools for Healthy Lives Act signed into law, we’re putting the children of Florida and their health first.”

Passage of the bill was a primary goal of Florida Impact, the state’s senior legislative public policy advocacy organization, which conducted an extensive grassroots lobbying campaign in support of the legislation along with a broad colation of other groups and supporters. Impact is also the lead partner with Share Our Strength on the Florida Project to End Childhood Hunger. Information on the Partnership can be found here.

As Commissioner Putnam stated, the Act, which shifts control of nutrition programs for students from the Department of Education to the Department of Agriculture, will help improve nutrition in school cafeterias across the State of Florida, and specifically direct more of Florida’s fresh fruits and vegetables to Florida students. You can read the text of S.B. 1312 here.

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Funding For Early-Childhood Education Declined From 2009 To 2010

Posted on May 6, 2011 by endchildhungerblog

Funding for early-childhood education declined between 2009 and 2010, even as the Obama administration urged states to increase pre-kindergarten programs for 3- and 4-year-olds, according to a study released earlier this week by the National Institute for Early Education Research.

Total state funding for such programs declined by $30 million nationwide as states scrambled to make up for budget shortfalls, according to the the Institute, based at Rutgers University Graduate School of Education.

As reported here by the Washington Post,  the study also states that “Overall, state cuts to pre-K transformed the recession into a depression for many young children.” You can read or download a PDF of The State of Preschool 2010 report here.

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Put Your (Membership) Money Where Your Advocacy Is

Posted on April 26, 2011 by endchildhungerblog

We’ve written about them a lot, but this is important: The major objective of the citizen-led, non-partisan Children’s Movement of Florida is to inform political, business and civic leaders, and the parents and people of this state, that the well-being and education of our children in Florida must be the highest priority of government, business, non-profit institutions and families – and to encourage them to make the well-being and education of our children our highest priority, including in the way we invest our public resources.

We buy into that. And now you can step up and participate in their membership campaign, and help support their efforts. You can join by making a donation (of any amount, but don’t be shy – it’s the kids we are talking about here!) via this link.

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Goya Foods Steps Up, Donates 1 Million Pounds Of Food

Posted on April 26, 2011 by endchildhungerblog

On March 16, Goya Foods donated 1,000,000 pounds of Goya food products to emergency food providers in communities across the country.

Goya joins an ever-increasing cadre of food-related companies embracing a higher sense of social responsibility by giving back to the communities they serve and supporting the fight for better nutrition and hunger relief. (Folks like Tyson Foods, ConAgra, Sysco, and Whole Foods Market immediately come to mind).

Goya’s donation of food to soup kitchens and food pantries across the country was in celebration of their 75th anniversary. Now they’ve also launched the Goya Gives campaign, in partnership with United Way, to encourage people to join in the fight against hunger and promote better nutrition through social media.

So join the Goya party. Check out the campaign via the links above.

For 75 days, from March 16th to May 29th, the public can, via the Goya Gives website, contribute recipes, photos and stories of sharing low-cost, nutritious meals with friends or neighbors in need. And in an inspired bit of “community building,” participants can also share via the web site their “Goya Gives” status with their friends on Facebook and Twitter.  In addition, the public can make direct monetary donations to United Way to help fund the organization’s mission to prevent hunger and promote better nutrition in communities across America.

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Ex-Legislator Dick Batchelor Speaks Out Against Cuts In Services

Posted on April 19, 2011 by endchildhungerblog

Dick Batchelor, a respected former Legislator and Florida Impact Board Member speaks out at a recent rally for Floridians who are at risk of losing what little support they now have, thanks to a heartless Florida Legislature more worried about saggy pants than protecting our most vulnerable citizens.

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FRAC’S Grassroots Tool Kit – Take Action

Posted on April 7, 2011 by endchildhungerblog

(via FRAC) The Food Research and Action Center is providing several tools to enable individuals and organizations to share their views with the USDA on what children need in school nutrition. Links to their resource material are listed below. NOTE that all comments must be submitted to the USDA by April 16, 2011.

1. Action Alert (pdf)
2. Sample brief letter with a link to USDA
3. Sample tweets and facebook status updates (pdf)

If you need more information on how to make comments and get others to do so, you can also contact Betsy Edwards of the FRAC staff via email at bedwards@frac.org.

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Florida Impact Rallies Support for “Healthy Schools for Healthy Lives” Act

Posted on April 7, 2011 by endchildhungerblog

Florida Impact, the state’s leading legislative public policy advocacy organization, has made passage of the Healthy Schools for Healthy Lives Act their highest legislative priority in this year’s legislative session. The Act transfers Florida’s school and summer nutrition programs from the Department of Education to the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.

This move would expand access to locally grown, fresh fruits and vegetables through school programs (meaning more access for children who come from Florida’s steadily growing number of struggling families that are unable to afford healthy eating options).

It would also bring a vigorous approach to implementing and managing federal child nutrition programs, enabling schools and summer meal providers to more effectively reach Florida’s students with the valuable lessons and practices of healthy eating. A link to a PDF of the detailed briefing paper prepared by Impact on the Act can be found here.

The Tallahassee Democrat recently published an editorial in support of the Act. You can access for viewing or downloading a PDF of the editorial here.

You can also add your voice to support the bill by signing up via Florida Impact’s advocacy link here.  And in the short term, you can also call Representative Bill Proctor, Chair of the House Education Committee, @ 850-488-2977 and urge him to place the House version of the Healthy Schools for Healthy Lives Act (HB7219) on the House Education Committee’s agenda for the week of April 11th!

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