The Challenge
The school nutrition program at Fulton County Schools in Atlanta, Ga., already goes above and beyond U.S. federal nutrition standards, serving 50 percent whole grains and plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. The challenge was how to get to the next step: getting kids to actually select the healthy foods. After all, food isn't nutritious until it's eaten. The problem was not about changing menus or the food offered, as the menus and the food choices are already healthy. As area supervisor of Fulton County School Nutrition, my challenge was "How do we engage the students to want to eat healthy?" I believe it's about marketing the food.
The Solution
Rather than re-create the wheel on the next step—getting kids to put healthy foods on their lunch trays—Fulton County is using existing community resources. Last spring I reached out to Children's Health Care of Atlanta (CHOA), one of the largest clinical providers of pediatric healthcare in the U.S., and found they wanted to help schools. I believe it's a novel partnership for a children's health care system to partner with a school system. CHOA offered training for our school nutrition managers through its Strong4Life program. The program empowers cafeteria workers to understand the problem of childhood obesity in Georgia and also
