How Cities Can Use Federal Meals Programs to Reduce Child Hunger and Obesity

Posted by on April 09, 2012

NLC Webinar on How Cities Can Use Federal Meals Programs to Reduce Child Hunger and Obesity
Wednesday, April 18, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Eastern Time

As communities experience growing childhood hunger and reports show a plateau in the nation’s elevated childhood obesity rate, this webinar will describe how municipal leaders can leverage federal nutrition assistance program funding to combat these interconnected crises.  Federal programs such as school breakfasts and lunches, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Afterschool Meal Program, the Summer Food Service Program and the Child and Adult Food Care Program can help cities ensure more children from low-income families receive adequate nutrition to grow up healthy and succeed in school.  Municipal officials in particular can play a vital role in attracting these federal funds to their communities, thereby supporting families and boosting the local economy.

As a consequence of the severe financial strain imposed on families by the recession, many children participating in out-of-school time programs rely on federally-subsidized breakfast, snack and supper programs to provide them with nutritious meals.  These programs have a dual benefit of closing nutritional gaps and attracting children to high-quality out-of-school-time programs, where they can be active, engaged and safe while their parents are at work.  The programs also help combat obesity among struggling families who can only afford cheaper, high-calorie, low-nutrition foods.

This webinar will focus on a range of topics surrounding the issue of childhood hunger and obesity in our nation’s cities.  Listeners will learn how cities can access federal funding to support afterschool supper programs and how these programs can be improved to reach more children.  They will also hear about strategies for partnering with schools, nonprofits and other stakeholders to help out-of-school time programs establish eligibility to receive federal reimbursement and meet the nutritional needs of young people during the school year, summer time and out-of-school hours.

Representatives from various cities will describe how they have managed different federal nutrition programs in their communities, what impacts and challenges they have encountered, and what advice they have for other cities preparing to engage in the process.  Additionally, experts in the field of nutrition and wellness will discuss how federal nutrition programs can help local leaders address the childhood obesity epidemic in their communities by expanding access to healthier food.

How To Register

NLC has just recently launched our online membership portal – myNLC.  To register for webinars you must first be logged in to your account.  If you have already created an account, go to the myNLC portal at https://my.nlc.org/eweb and find this webinar under “Upcoming Events.”
If you have not yet set up your account, please follow the steps below to begin the login process:

Please click the link to set your password:  Set Password
You will then be redirected to the login page where you will enter your new credentials
Check the Remember Me box to stay logged in
Once you are logged into myNLC you can register for the upcoming webinar – Healthy Food Shortage: How Cities Can Use Federal Meals Programs to Reduce Childhood Hunger and Obesity
Questions? Please contact Michael Karpman at (202) 626-3072 or karpman@nlc.org or Tim Mudd at (202) 626-3074 or mudd@nlc.org