Chef Ann Foundation
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Mission Statement
The Chef Ann Foundation fights childhood obesity by helping schools transition to scratch-cooked meals made with fresh, whole food. Our vision is a country in which every child, in every school, has access to fresh, healthy food every day.
About This Cause
About Us The Chef Ann Foundation (CAF) was founded in 2009 by Chef Ann Cooper, a pioneering leader in the fields of school food, childhood nutrition, and sustainable agriculture. CAF helps schools transition to scratch-cooked meals made with fresh, whole food that supports children’s health and the health of the planet. To date, we’ve reached 14,500 schools and over 4,000,000 children. Who We Serve Childhood malnourishment is one of our country's greatest health challenges and social justice issues. Access to healthy food is often severely restricted for our poorest citizens. Close to 16 million children in this country live in food insecure households with compromised access to nourishing food. Food deserts and prohibitive food costs often mean that poor children are sent to school without breakfast. For some children, the food they eat at school is the only food they eat all day. Poor children are also more likely to be obese, not from overeating, but from eating poor-quality, inexpensive food loaded with fat, salt, and sugar. Childhood obesity remains an epidemic in this country. School-aged children (6-18) are experiencing obesity rates between 18% and 21%. Healthy school food has a significant positive impact on children's access to nutritious food, especially for disadvantaged children who qualify for free and reduced-price school meals. Over 30 million children eat school lunch each day, and 71.5% of them come from disadvantaged households. Our programs ensure that the meals they eat not only nourish children today, but also establish healthy eating habits that will improve their chances for a healthy future. Programs • Salad Bars to Schools: When asked what is the one thing that schools can do to improve their nutrition programs, Chef Ann Cooper responded, “Get a salad bar.” Research shows that incorporating salad bars into school lunches increases children’s consumption of fresh produce. To date, Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools has provided 3,936 schools with bars, equipment, and technical assistance, ensuring that 1,968,500 children have daily access to a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables every day. • The Lunch Box: Many school districts want to switch to healthier school food, but they lack the tools, resources and guidance to make that switch. A free online toolkit for school food service staff and directors, The Lunch Box provides a continuum of comprehensive and interactive tools to help school food service providers achieve their goals. Hard-to-get healthy recipes, menu cycles, financial templates, and procurement guides help schools create successful, healthy, and delicious nutrition programs. • Project Produce: Launched in 2014, our Project Produce: Fresh Fruits and Veggies program has provided grants to 163 schools. These grants provide lunchroom education that incorporates school-wide fruit and vegetable tastings to expand children's palates, encourages healthy eating habits in school and out, and teaches kids where their food comes from and how it's produced. This program has created demand by students for more fresh produce in their school lunch which has inspired school food service directors to create new recipes for their menu cycles. Schools report an increase in participation of the lunch program, and a reduction in the procurement of canned and frozen produce. • School Food Support Initiative (SFSI): SFI’s goal is to increase a school district’s capacity and ability to provide scratch-cooked meals to students through extensive, long term technical assistance and resources from Ann Cooper and her team of school food experts. This program includes assessing barriers and identifying recommended actions in 5 key areas of school food service: food, finance, facilities, human resources, and marketing. Over twenty-four months we provide a director's workshop, on-site assessment and strategic planning, peer-to-peer collaboration, and equipment grants. Since the launch of the program, we have impacted the food served to 41,341 children in 11 school districts with an average free and reduced-price lunch program eligibility of 60%. In 2017, seven new districts joined our 2017/2018 School Food Support Initiative cohort, which will impact 30,000 students at 54 schools with a full transition to scratch cook operations. • School Food Institute (SFI): Launched in September 2017, SFI is designed to give school food service workers and childhood nutrition advocates the in-depth training, operational skills, and strategic vision necessary to make school food fresh, healthy, and sustainable. School Food Institute has eight online courses focused on making sustainable change to school food operations. All courses satisfy USDA Professional Standards for school food service staff as they make positive change in their school meal programs and acquire skills to advance their careers. • Parent Advocacy Initiative: School food change often starts with a small and committed group of parents who have had enough of nachos with neon cheese sauce as a school lunch option for their children. To help spread the wave of grassroots change, the Parent Advocacy Initiative gives parents and advocates tools, resources, and guidance to take the first steps toward school food change in their communities.