REAL FOOD FOR KIDS
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Mission Statement
Real Food for Kids’ mission is to improve eating behaviors and health outcomes for all children through sustainable access to real whole foods, impactful nutrition education, and local systemic policy changes. Through collaboration, positive advocacy, and innovative programs, we work to improve childhood health and nutrition in the Greater Washington Region.
About This Cause
Since 2010, Real Food for Kids has worked in the Greater Washington Region to improve eating behaviors and health outcomes for children and families through innovative, collaborative programs in which the communities we serve play a pivotal role in creating change. Our successful work with school system partners, increasing access to healthful food and nutrition education, positioned us to expand our mission to address the broader challenges of food and nutrition insecurity outside school walls--challenges that disproportionately affect economically marginalized communities of color. Our successes have been the result of meaningful collaborative community engagement, diverse, mission-aligned partners and positive advocacy with a range of stakeholders. It is through the resources and expertise of our partners that we are able to achieve depth and breadth in our programs. Our advocacy work was founded to address the disconnect between rising rates of childhood obesity and the poor quality of foods served in schools, particularly to students of low-income who receive free or reduced-priced meals. Food literacy programs, such as our Fresh Food Explorers preschool series, are designed for students from multi-racial/ethnic communities who are at greater risk for developing obesity, diabetes and heart disease as a result of diet. Our annual Culinary Challenge tasks public school students with developing USDA-compliant school recipes that can be scaled up for cafeteria kitchens. Perhaps more importantly, it also integrates ethnically diverse dishes created by young competitors who interpret guidelines through the lens of their lived experience. Early in the pandemic, we launched Chefs Feeding Families to address rising food insecurity in the Greater Washington Region. The program has distributed over 160,000 plant-forward, culturally inclusive meals and meal kits from as many as 23 sites located within racially diverse neighborhoods experiencing nutrition insecurity and limited access to healthful foods. Our clients have shared their appreciation for these produce-rich meals as an antidote to the nutrient-void foods commonly distributed to alleviate hunger. Chefs Feeding Families not only funds meals, but also labor within the hospitality industry in which 43% of jobs are typically held by Latina, Black and Asian women. Chefs Feeding Families strengthened our focus on meeting people where they are, physically and ideologically, and has informed the design of a ground-breaking SNAP model to incentivize the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables. While data indicates this federal nutrition benefit program is successful in lifting recipients out of poverty, it has little influence on diet quality. Research among recipients in multiple state studies shows support for produce incentives to improve family consumption and health. The SNAP pilot will also explore reduction strategies, or disincentives, for sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Consumption of SSBs--highest among non-Hispanic Blacks, Mexican Americans, and low-income families--contributes to weight gain, developing Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and gout in these populations, who are also disproportionately targeted with SSB advertising. Real Food for Kids is often described as a small but mighty organization with a reputation for punching above its weight. It has been widely recognized as one of the leading voices for nutrition equity in the Greater Washington Region.