Latina Bloggers Policy Briefing: Let's Move! Initiative

This is the third article in a series relaying information obtained during a White House briefing on issues relating to Latinos in the U.S.

The History

Nutritionist Marissa Duswalt is the Associate Director for Policy and Events with the Let's Move! Initiative. At the briefing, she shared with us a brief history of the initiative which was launched two years ago by the First Lady, Michelle Obama, after a routine visit to the pediatrician with her own daughters. Ms. Duswalt said that the pediatrician's advice started the First Lady to thinking about the importance of making healthy meal choices and getting children active everyday.

Ms. Duswalt said that America is facing the most sedentary generation in history. On average, children spend 7 1/2 hours a day in front of a screen. And as I mentioned yesterday, Latino children are at highest risk of being overweight and developing diabetes.

The goals of the Let's Move! initiative are to improve the health of children through physical exercise and proper nutrition. They are working closely with the Department of Health to make nutrition information friendly and accessible.

In addition, there is a strong emphasis being placed on culture and sharing time as a family. On their site, parents can find ideas for family meals and even new guidelines for gardening. Families are being encouraged to start their own gardens and grow their own fruits and vegetables for their family meals. And another goal of the initiative is to see more salad bars available in schools.

In terms of getting kids more active, Ms. Obama understands that kids - especially those in inner cities - need more opportunities for sports.


Opportunities for Your Family

Ms. Duswalt alluded several times to more exciting announcements coming this summer by the Let's Move program. This may possibly be in refrence to the U.S. Olympic Committee's commitment to bring 1.7 million new opportunities to get kids into athletics through local programs. And most of them will be free.

She encouraged us to sign up for the LM newsletter for information about upcoming events and projects. (You know I did.)

I did a little digging on the Let's Move! website and discovered that the initiative has also partnered with hundreds of community organizations to create more opportunities for kids to get moving. A couple of examples include...

Let's Move Outside Junior Ranger - A program that promotes outdoor physical activity in 50 national parks across the nation.

Let's Move Museum & Gardens - A collaboration between more than 17,500 museums, gardens, public gardens, and other learning centers to teach kids about healthy food choices and the importance of physical activity through interactive exhibits. Ask your local museum for more information.

You might be especially interested in the section on the Let's Move website that shares 42 Healthy and Kid-Friendly Recipes to Try at Home.

**And finally, I discovered The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge. Between now and June 17th, parents of children ages 8 - 12 are invited to submit their favorite recipe for a healthy lunch. The recipes must meet the following criteria: healthy, creative, tasty and affordable. One parent/child will be chosen from each of the 50 states to attend a Kids' "State Dinner" hosted by the White House. I would really love to see some Latino families win with some of their own healthy, cultural dishes!


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Disclosure: This information was obtained during a special White House policy briefing for Latina bloggers organized by LATISM. I was awarded a full scholarship to attend the retreat of which the briefing was one aspect, and appreciate the sponsors that made it possible.

Latina Bloggers Policy Briefing: Department of Agriculture

 

This is the second article in a series relaying information obtained during a White House briefing on issues relating to Latinos in the U.S.

Lisa Pino is the Deputy Administrator of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program under the Department of Agriculture. During Monday’s briefing, she shared some of the programs currently available to families and individuals.

Ms. Pino began by listing some of the nutrition assistance programs that the federal government offers such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), school meal programs, and the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. Though they are funded by the federal government, these services are administered at state levels and Ms. Pino said these programs are the most effective mechanisms available to fight hunger and obesity, two seemingly opposing problems that our society faces. But the reality is that they are both intimately linked as poor families often do not make wise food consumption choices, preferring to purchase inexpensive products that are high in fats and sugars. Malnutrition leads to obesity.

Ms. Pino stated that 1 in 4 Latino children are nutritionally insecure. In fact, Latino children make up the largest share of American children living in food insecurity.

And 1 in 2 Latinos suffer from diabetes. That means HALF of the Latino babies born today will develop diabetes.

We are experiencing an epidemic among Latino children. (For more information about this, please watch this super informative video I posted back in March.)

Ms. Pino also said that the president is committed to ending hunger and obesity for children, and cited the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act that the president signed into law in 2010. According to the USDA’s website, the legislation "authorizes funding and sets policy for USDA's core child nutrition programs: the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Summer Food Service Program, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program."

The act is designed to improve diets in schools and parents/children will begin to see changes starting this fall in terms of portion control, more fruits and vegetables, etc, in school lunches.

Special note: Listed above is the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), of special importance because it is during the summer months that children are the most vulnerable to food insecurity. This program provides free, nutritious meals and snacks to help children in low-income areas get the nutrition they need to learn, play, and grow, throughout the summer months when they are out of school. Learn more here.

Ms. Pino also talked for a while about SNAP and said it was the country’s largest anti-hunger program. But unfortunately, it only serves about 56% of Latinos who are eligible to receive assistance.

So as a result, the USDA has launched an initiative called La Mesa Completa. It is designed to engage Latino families to improve their access and increase their participation in the programs that are available. The program tackles the main issues that prevent Latino families from using the services. For example, because low literacy rates may prevent Latinos from learning about the services, La Mesa Completa relies heavily on word-of-mouth information. Read more about the initiative here.

The USDA also chucked the food pyramid model and replaced it with the new My Plate/Mi Plato symbol and educational tool designed to help families make healthy meal choices. The guidance system is much more attractive and easier for families to incorporate into their daily routine. The English website is very well developed. It is a great source of information, printable materials, and even a SuperTracker that helps families plan, analyze, and track your diet and physical activity. A lot of the information is also available in Spanish. Anyone can order Mi Plato information for home or school use and receive it free of charge.

Personally, I think a great way to disseminate the information would be for teachers to use the coloring sheets in their classrooms, or assign them as homework so that the information travels home where parents might see it.

I hope you all take a moment to check out some of these resources and share them with those you know.

Up next...the Let's Move program!

Disclosure: This information was obtained during a special White House policy briefing for Latina bloggers organized by LATISM. I was awarded a full scholarship to attend the retreat of which the briefing was one aspect, and appreciate the sponsors that made it possible.

Latina Bloggers Policy Briefing: Department of Education

l to r: Alejandra Cejas, Lisa Pino, Marissa Duswalt

This is the first article in a series relaying information obtained during a White House briefing on issues relating to Latinos in the U.S.

On Monday, I had the most fantastic opportunity to visit the White House for a special policy briefing thanks to our national LATISM organization. For two hours, dozens of Latina bloggers and I had the opportunity to listen and ask questions to some of the highest ranking Latina officials in the government.


Today, I want to focus on some of the resources and programs that the Department of Education is working on as described by Ms. Alejandra Cejas, Chief of Staff, Office of the Under Secretary, in the Department of Education.

Ms. Cejas began by saying that one of the goals of the administration is to make college affordable for families and students. Currently, many graduates are struggling with the amount of debt they incur to attend quality colleges. As a result, the Dept of Ed is looking into ways to make resources and information for (Latino) students more easily accessible. She said that they are trying to increase federal aid to these students to make repaying their loans easier, and to help them "compete and complete" a degree in higher education.

One of the initiatives that Ms. Cejas mentioned is the Educational Excellence for Hispanics initiative. I did a little research myself on the web and learned that the initiative was actually established in 1990 under the Bush Administration. The goal is to provide quality education while "increasing opportunities for Hispanic American participation in federal education programs."  In 2011, the Obama Administration appointed José Rico as executive director. You can read a fact sheet with more information here.

As part of the administration's program to increase access to federal aid to Latino and other under-served students, the Dept of Ed has created a Forecasting Funding tool on their website that provides a list of the grants that are available, a time frame for students/families, and the name of a staff member with a contact number. It is pretty simple and straight-forward. The site currently has funding listed for the 2012 fiscal year.

The White House is also working on creating a College Scorecard to help students and families compare colleges so that they can make informed decisions when it comes to choosing a college in terms of quality and affordability. The card will be be filled out by students with regards to topics like financial aid availability, graduation success rated, etc. The picture above is a sample scorecard for a four-year college. If you'd like to see more, you can download a PDF at their site, AND I would encourage all of you to evaluate the scorecard by letting them know what you think should be included or how you would change it by filling out their feedback form.

In addition, the administration has committed 2 billion dollars to the Office of Vocational and Adult Education to improve literacy among adults and attract adult learners to retrain them, strengthen their skills, or teach them a new set of skills so that they can begin a new career in a different, higher-paying field. She also said that the Dept of Ed is still fighting for Pell Grants, trying to make the dreams of all students a reality. However, on Sunday, various articles like this one in the Mercury News announced that Congress decided to reduce or eliminate Pell Grants for hundreds of thousands of the poorest college students (guess who makes up up the majority of them? Latinos.) The Pell Grants will now only be available for six year (instead of nine), and students without high school degrees will no longer eligible for the grant after July 1st unless they are already enrolled in college before that time. (However, according to the article, a 2008 federal study showed that students without high school diplomas who complete six college units are just as successful as their high school graduate counterparts.) These students can, however, continue to apply for state funding.

Ms. Cejas said that the administration was taking a "cradle to career" approach and trying to implement reforms across the entire education system through regulations. The way the system work is that the federal government provides funding and guidance policies (a suggestion of "best" practices). States and school districts are responsible for choosing curriculum, teaching strategies, class size, and implementing the specific teaching models.

Many of the Latina bloggers attending the briefing were provided with the opportunity to get up and ask questions. In terms of education, three bloggers in particular tackled the issue of Special Needs students. Lisa Quiñones-Fontanez from Autism Wonderland, Eliana Tardío Hurtado from Emir y Ayelén, and Laurita Tellado Calderón from Holdin' Out for Hero, all shared some of the difficulties they have encountered within the school districts and in society. Ms. Cejas responded by saying that the Department of Education is working very hard towards inclusion and emphasized that this issue is our modern day "Civil Rights Movement."

Roxana Soto from Spanglish Baby asked about the chances of dual-language schools becoming more prevalent for families wanting to raise bilingual children. Ms. Cejas said that the administration was definitely working on improving and even expanding school programs for Spanish-speaking children (ESL learners). So I think Roxana was bit frustrated, and I agree that learning or maintaining a second language should be a top priority the norm for early education programs nationwide. Personally, I think the government should offer incentives for dual language immersion, as well as foreign language and after-school programs that promote bilingualism.

Silvia Martinez from Mama Latina Tips shared her concerns about the increasing class sizes, her disapproval of intensive testing, and her opposition to losing extracurricular subjects/activities such as art and sports. Ms. Cejas replied that class sizes and curriculum (such as art, music, etc) are regulated at a state level, and sometimes even school districts made those decisions.

Ms. Cejas also stressed that the Dept of Education is working with the Departments of Nutrition and Physical Health with regards to how these issues all affect each other. I'll be sharing more about this the next two days!

If you'd like to join in or follow the conversation, follow the White House on Twitter at @WHLive or in Spanish @LaCasablanca.

Disclosure: This information was obtained during a special White House policy briefing for Latina bloggers organized by LATISM. I was awarded a full scholarship to attend the retreat of which the briefing was one aspect, and appreciate the sponsors that made it possible.