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Month in FOCUSIssue 38, June 22, 2011
IN THIS ISSUE: Click the title to jump straight to the story!
A warm welcome to new FOCUS stakeholders
We couldn't do it without you
What a conference it was!
Deepening relationships and moving in new strategic directions
School Food Showcase connects those who go above and beyond
School districts innovate through peer experience and education
You gotta watch this: WINNER of the FOCUS Cheer Contest!
Ricardo Salvador weaves it all together
Stay tuned for notes, learnings, videos, and more
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Ready? Here's the June Month in FOCUS 

June is busting out all over! We took a break in May and now we're back in action with our monthly round-up of news, updates, and developments from the School Food FOCUS universe.

This issue features highlights from our Transforming School Food conference, which took place June 2-4 at the Inverness in Denver, CO. Stay tuned for more details: we're working on getting the notes and summaries available to everyone. Next month we'll return to the usual format.

A warm welcome to new FOCUS stakeholders

Since our last announcement of new stakeholders back in January, we've added a whole slew of school food service professionals and their district partners to our ranks. This gives us a current grand total of 33 FOCUS districts!  

 

New Districts

  • Beaverton (OR) School District
  • Greenville (SC) Public Schools
  • Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools
  • Miami-Dade County Public Schools 
New District Partners
  • Boston Public Health Commission (Boston Public Schools)
  • CAN DO Houston (Houston Independent School District)
  • Center for Resilient Cities (Milwaukee Public Schools)
  • Community Alliance with Family Farmers (Oakland Unified School District)
  • Detroit Eastern Market (Detroit Public Schools)  
  • Hunger Task Force (Milwaukee Public Schools) 
  • LiveWell Colorado (Jefferson County [CO] Public Schools)
  • New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (NYC Department of Education)
  • Piedmont Health Care Foundation (Greenville [SC] Public Schools)
  • Real Food Colorado (Jefferson County [CO] Public Schools) 
  • Urban and Environmental Policy Institute (Riverside Unified School District)
Congratulations to all -- we're happy to have you join us.

Transforming School Food Conference: We couldn't do it without you 

 

Shien Chiou of FOCUS greets attendees at registration

We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to all who attended our conference in early June. Your contributions were vital -- the participants are what made the meeting  compelling, productive, educational, and entertaining!

We also owe major thanks to our sponsors for their support:

Sprout Level
  • Homeplate Food Group
  • Michigan State University
  • Sodexo
  • Truitt Brothers
Seed Level
  • The Colorado Health Foundation
  • Chartwells-Thompson Hospitality
  • Public Health Law & Policy
  • Wallace Center at Winrock International 

Additional thanks go to scholarship donors, including Claneil Foundation, the Colorado Health Foundation, Fair Food Philly, the National Farm to School Network, and other individuals and organizations, whose generous contributions enabled many of our stakeholders to attend.

 

And what a conference it was! 


Making new connections: Braina Corke of Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and Kim Szeto of Boston Public Schools

"[We're] very optimistic that we can really impact change locally and nationally for the health of our kids." -- school food service professional

This year's School Food FOCUS conference brought a diverse mix of people together in a way that we had not previously seen. The program [PDF] was an ambitious one -- the meeting saw interaction among nearly 200 changemakers from:
  • school food service professionals from member districts
  • their district partners
  • districts curious about FOCUS and new to our efforts, including several smaller neighboring districts in Colorado and districts engaged in our Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) mentorship program 
  • foundations with local, regional, and national scopes
  • USDA, specifically from Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), and Rural Development 
  • CDC, specifically from the Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) and the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO) 
  • vendors of school food products
  • other organizations and companies engaged in school food innovation

Betti Wiggins of Detroit Public Schools shares thoughts with the crowd at dinner

The ability of active leaders in school food and food systems change to interact, collaborate, learn, and network with one another was crucial and invaluable. As FOCUS has witnessed over and over again throughout the past three years, the advantage of face-to-face, personal conversation cannot be underestimated -- it's how mountains are moved and the status quo is chipped away.

"[The meeting was] the best in my 34 years of attending conferences, meetings, and gatherings." -- school food service professional

In this year's Transforming School Food

conference, the levels of intensity, energy, and cross-sector working relationships achieved new heights. We came to Denver ready to create, inspire, innovate, and make change happen -- all for the betterment of our environment, our food systems, and, most important, our children, society's future.


Rodney Taylor, Director of Nutrition Services for Riverside Unified School District, made that abundantly clear in his rousing opening address that underscored the powerful role and responsibility of school food service professionals in safeguarding the health of the nation's kids. As he repeated throughout his remarks, setting the tone for the rest of the meeting and grounding attendees in their work, "It's all about the children."

Deepening relationships with federal government partners and moving in new strategic directions 


Rodney Taylor of Riverside Unified School District confers with Janey Thornton, Deputy Under Secretary of USDA Food, Nutrition, and  

Consumer Services

The level of participation with USDA and CDC was in particular quite different from last year's conference. In 2010, we had conversations about getting to know one another. In 2011, the interaction was about working with one another to reach mutual understanding and to forge partnerships around shared goals.

"The energy, commitment, and passion in the room [was exciting]." -- government agency representative

In a little over a year, the connection between FOCUS staff and stakeholders and our colleagues in the federal government has grown in productive and positive ways. In Denver we revealed plans to begin work on an Upper Midwest Regional Learning Lab, with initial funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Kresge Foundation, that dovetails with the recent USDA study of regional food hubs.

Dan Carmody of Detroit Eastern Market and Debra Tropp of USDA Agricultural Marketing Service chat over lunch at Leprino Foods

FOCUS is confident that school food procurement fits well with USDA and others' efforts around regional food hubs, providing a good model for strengthening regional food systems by supplying school districts with more healthful, regionally sourced, and sustainably produced foods.

 

The Upper Midwest Regional Learning Lab will include two districts already engaged in the Learning Lab; three other FOCUS districts; and more districts of different sizes yet to be determined. We'll share more details on the Upper Midwest Regional Learning Lab as they develop.  

 

Along with a regional Learning Lab approach, FOCUS is also examining national leveraging -- starting with chicken -- as well as deepening our capacity to share and accelerate procurement change throughout the country. You can learn more in our Strategic Plan Executive Summary [PDF].  

 

"Awesome exchange of information. [FOCUS] meetings provide encouragement for me in the work I do." -- school food service professional 

School Food Showcase connects those who go above and beyond

Whitney Bateson of Chartwells-Thompson at DC Public Schools and Jeffrey Mills of DC Public Schools learn more from David Horowitz of Tasty Brands 


The School Food Showcase, which has grown in scope (double the size of last year's conference) and savvy (more balanced criteria and a wider range of foods), featured vendors recommended by one or more FOCUS districts and chosen for their adherence to criteria agreed upon by the Showcase Committee:
  • an exemplary nutritional profile, including whole grain/high fiber, low fat, and low levels of added sugar and sodium
  • a minimum of artificial additives; all-natural labels preferred
  • proven success with students
  • competitive pricing 
In designing the event, the committee's goal was to catalyze constructive and mutually supportive conversation between the people who produce food for schools and the people who buy it. It worked! Exhibitors and attendees alike dug in and talked, making full use of this opportunity to meet and taste face-to-face. Sliding scale participation fees leveled the playing field, making it possible for a small Montana start-up producer of whole grain crunch bars to exhibit side-by-side with a major commodity processor that makes whole grain pasta entrees for many millions of children each year.

Salad bar supplied by Let's Move  

Salad Bars to Schools


Also included in the Showcase were examples of creative, healthful ways to use USDA Foods products, thanks to the ingenuity of Denver Public Schools and Slow Food Denver, as well as a fully stocked salad bar from Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools. Here are some observations from attendees about the School Food Showcase.

"This is the right audience. Vendors are relevant to the changes we're looking to make. Denver using commodities and baking their own wholegrain bread is very relevant to our school district." 

 

"I've been to a lot of food shows where there are 300+ exhibitors. This was just about 15 and all things we could actually use!"  

 

"Great vendors who are helpful and willing to work with school districts. Great nutrition value." 

Debra Huffman of Asian Food Solutions explains her entrees to Andrea Northup of DC Farm to School Network

 

 

Vendors had feedback, too. Here's what they felt was valuable: 

 

"Connecting with decision makers and getting instant feedback was great."

 

"Understanding what's most important for [school food service] in healthy food."

 

"Being linked directly to school buyers and nutrition directors."

 

"I have been involved in school food service for many years and this was an excellent conference. Many of the conversations that we had had nothing to do with products -- but were focused on getting to know people and talking about 'mega' child nutrition issues that affect each of us. It's great to be in a forum that allows us to contribute some of our knowledge towards making our industry a better place."

Glenn Osborne and Emile Johnson of vendor Organic Milling

 

Following the School Food Showcase, company representatives and FOCUS staff moderators held a breakout session that examined how to strengthen vendor relationships, yielding great observations and suggestions that will inform our work and event planning through the coming year. 

 

We're so pleased that vendors and attendees alike could participate in this high-impact exchange of ideas, and hope that many of you made contacts to follow up with in the near future.

School districts innovate through peer experience and education 

JoAnne Berkenkamp of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), Diana Abellera of Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF), and Jennifer LeBarre of Oakland Unified Public Schools  


A major session of the conference saw FOCUS member school districts and their partners (Milwaukee, Oakland), including those of the Learning Lab (Saint Paul, Denver), discussing the Learning Lab model and process, procurement change victories.

This educational session got to the heart of what it really takes to make sustainable procurement change work in large school districts. Woven throughout the stories was the vital need for school food service professionals to collaborate with district partners whose skills and abilities are complementary to their own -- in every case, the change was facilitated by this beneficial partnership.

As Kymm Mutch of Milwaukee Public Schools explained, school districts have a distinct advantage in innovation because they don't compete with one another. Unlike in a free market, where competitors keep trade secrets safe, school food service professionals and their district partners can share ideas, collaborate, and work together with others to improve operations throughout the state, region, or nation.

"[I loved the] creativity of directors and their sharing best practices and challenges." -- school food service professional

This discussion, along with one of the breakout sessions later in the meeting, highlighted current Learning Lab work on "cleaner" chicken in Chicago. Concerned with safe and sustainable use of antibiotics in poultry production, at one point, the breakout session got fairly technical. The group learned from Gail Hansen of the Pew Campaign on Human Health in Industrial Farming just how complex it is to come up with a truly meaningful and effective definition and verification system for "judicious use" of antibiotics, as the Learning Lab is attempting to do in Chicago.

 

We also heard from USDA presenters about new brown box options for clean-label chicken that is very low in sodium, including the delicious rotisserie chicken that Denver Public Schools had presented in the School Food Showcase earlier in the day.

"I think School Food FOCUS...gives a much-needed voice to school food." -- district partner

Seattle Public Schools poster by Wendy Weyer

In a new venue for peer learning, other FOCUS districts had the opportunity to share their accomplishments in our first-ever poster session.  

 

Boston Public Schools, Detroit Public Schools, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, Oakland Unified School District, Portland Public Schools, San Diego Unified School District, Seattle Public Schools, and new FOCUS partner LiveWell Colorado participated in the session with vivid, informative posters that ran the gamut from expanding farm to school efforts to successful breakfast in the classroom programs and making the most of USDA Foods.  

Winner of the FOCUS Cheer Contest: Mellissa Honeywood of Baltimore Public Schools


A few weeks before the conference, FOCUS staff announced a contest for the best FOCUS cheer, chant, or song. We received several fantastic submissions, but by far the outstanding winner was Mellissa Honeywood of Baltimore Public Schools, who, with the help of her wife Laura, created this clever, funny, and heartwarming parody of Cee-Lo Green's "Forget You" called "It's School Food."

 

When we screened this video at the conference, laughter echoed throughout the room, and the stunned smiles on attendees' faces confirmed it was a hit. 

 

Please watch, enjoy, and share far and wide! To read the lyrics, click here [PDF].  

School Food FOCUS Music Video 2011

"It's School Food" - School Food FOCUS Music Video 2011


Ricardo Salvador weaves it all together

Ricardo Salvador, W.K. Kellogg Foundation


FOCUS was fortunate to have Linda Jo Doctor, Ricardo Salvador, and Gail Imig of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, our major and initial funder, join us at the conference.

Ricardo gave the closing speech, explaining how FOCUS stakeholders are constantly engaged in research and development: innovating, trying things out, evaluating the process, and always communicating with one another to see how others have done it.

Ricardo linked themes across the past three days to changing what's on lunch trays, changing food systems, and changing the world.

That's exactly what our stakeholders do: research, develop, innovate, and transform. Kudos to you!
Stay tuned: summaries, videos, photos, next steps, and more are on their way

Dexter Kishida of Kokua Hawaii Foundation gets down to business with Hossein Akhtarkhavari of Sodexo at Atlanta Public Schools


Many breakout sessions and other conversations yielded great ideas that were not covered in this newsletter.

The FOCUS team is working to compile and share notes, videos, photos, and other output from the conference so that everyone, whether they attended or not, can partake in the rich experiences that Transforming School Food provided.

Please watch this space for more details in the coming weeks. The FOCUS team is already moving in new directions and, as always, we will be looking to our stakeholders for input and collaboration.

School Food FOCUS is a national collaborative that leverages the knowledge and procurement power of large school districts to make school meals nationwide more healthful, regionally sourced, and sustainably produced. FOCUS aims to transform food systems to support students' academic achievement and lifelong health, while directly benefiting farmers, regional economies, and the environment. School Food FOCUS is a program of Public Health Solutions. For more information, visit www.schoolfoodfocus.org and follow us on Twitter at @SchoolFoodFOCUS.