ASTPHND recently posted in the Resources section of this website Promoting Healthy Foods at Grocery Stores, tools and information for increasing the availability of healthy foods at small grocery stores in low-income and underserved areas.  This resource provides a snapshot of innovative initiatives that a number of organizations have launched, with links to each organization’s project, to improve the health of our most at-risk communities.

The Association of State & Territorial Public Health Nutrition Directors (ASTPHND) is a non-profit membership organization that provides state and national leadership on food and nutrition policy, programs, and services.  We welcome your involvement in our growing organization.  Learn more about us at About ASTPHND.

Wellstart now has a Certificate of Completion process for its Lactation Management Self-Study Modules.  Click here to access the online exam.  All of the questions and answers are based on information given in Wellstart's Modules.  As with the Modules, this final exam and certificate are available without charge.  Wellstart developed the Certificate of Completion process after Breastfeeding USA indicated that completion of the Wellstart Modules can be used to satisfy the training requirement for physicians in hospitals preparing for a Baby-Friendly assessment. 

The University of Washington Center for Public Health Nutrition recently released the Opportunities for Increasing Access to Healthy Foods in Washington Report. This comprehensive report presents an overview of barriers and enhancers to a healthy food system, current initiatives, a review of promising strategies, and a list of opportunities to help the State of Washington move forward.  The report was funded by the Centers for Disease Control through the Washington Department of Health's Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Program.

Bridging the Gap recently released School District Wellness Policies: Evaluating Progress and Potential for Improving Children’s Health Three Years after the Federal Mandate.  The report provides new data applicable to each grade level on the major provisions of local wellness policies: school meals, competitive foods and beverages, nutrition education, physical activity and physical education, implementation and evaluation.  New to this year’s report is a comparison between wellness policy provisions and the 2007 Institute of Medicine (IOM) nutritional standards for competitive products sold in schools.

The Center for Public Health Nutrition at the University of Washington has released Powerful Choices: Healthy Living in a Media World.  Powerful Choices is a media literacy curriculum containing four lessons designed for 3rd to 6th graders that encourages kids to reduce screen time, increase physical activity, and become and responsible consumers of screen-based media.  Each lesson includes a detailed lesson plan with background information and learning objectives, activity sheets, and a  PowerPoint presentation. 

The Eat Smart...it's in the Garden Program is a collaborative effort between the South Carolina Department of Agriculture and Eat Smart, Move More...SC, with support from the SC Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity.  As part of this program, the Division recently developed a toolkit: Eat Smart...it's in the Garden! South Carolina's Guide to Starting or Enhancing a School Vegetable Garden.  This toolkit is based on lessons learned from the last two years' Eat Smart...It's in the Garden grant recipients and was designed to help SC teachers create and maintain vegetable and fruit gardens at their schools.

The California WIC Association has released a new brief, Making the Case for Breastfeeding: The Health Argument Isn’t Enough, which powerfully frames breastfeeding messages for better breastfeeding advocacy.  The report outlines for advocates the key ingredients they need to produce effective breastfeeding messages.  The California WIC Association is working to increase initiation and duration of breastfeeding, especially for low-income women, and to promote greater acceptance of breastfeeding.  Click on Continue Story to view the complete briefing paper.

On July 15, the Community Food Security Coalition and Farmers Market Coalition released a report outlining the barriers that prevent  Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants from buying fresh and healthy food at farmers' markets.  Real Food, Real Choice: Connecting SNAP Recipients with Farmers' Markets, concludes that lack of access is a fundamental health issue for SNAP participants and translates into a loss of potential income for farmers.  The report presents many recommendations, including redirecting existing federal funds and instituting changes at the community level, to overcome these critical challenges.

CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity (DNPAO) has posted State Program Highlights, a collection of current state activities in the following five areas: Farm-to-Where-You Are Programs, Improving Retail Access for Fruits and Vegetables, Food Policy Councils and now Maternity Care Practices and Support for Breastfeeding in the Workplace.  These five areas are part of DNPAO’s recommended strategies to prevent and control obesity through healthful eating and physical activity.  DNPAO will post additional highlights on its website.  Contact Marissa Zwald if you have questions.

The Center for American Progress has released a new report, Confronting America's Childhood Obesity Epidemic: How the Health Care Reform Law Will Prevent and Reduce Obesity.  The report describes key provisions in the new law that focus on obesity reduction.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation invites you to participate in an open dialogue to help advance policies to reverse the childhood obeisty epidemic.  Once you register for the Foundation's online forum, you can post your comments to any of the six discussion topics that correspond to the Foundation's six priority policy areas.  This online forum will only be open for one month, starting July 19. 

Current funding opportunities in public health nutrition.

ASTPHND 2009 Annual Report

Healthy People 2020 and USDA End Childhood Hunger Update

On August 5, the U.S. Senate passed the Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill.  This vitally important legislation, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, provides an additional $4.5 billion over ten years to federal child nutrition programs, including school lunches.  If signed into law, the bill's passage will mark the first time that Congress has increased funding for these critically important programs in three decades.  The programs this legislation funds reach millions of children each day, improving their educational achievement, economic security and health.

The House must still consider its version of Child Nutrition Reauthorization, the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act.

For more information on the Senate's important vote and what's still to come in the House, go to the ASTPHND Advocacy Committee page.

ASTPHND wants to know if you are hearing from us!  On August 16, the ASTPHND Communications Committee sent you, via postal mail, a communications technology survey.  We will be sending you a number of messages between August 22 and August 26, and we would very much like to know which of those messages you receive.

The Committee realized that not all members receive all of our communications.  ASTPHND has worked hard to provide our members with up-to-date information important to your work in public health nutrition.

The survey form we sent out asks you to mark the check boxes to tell us if you received a Constant Contact email which we will send August 22, a Survey Monkey email (August 23), Google Groups invitation (August 24), Netforum Avectra email (August 25) and a telephone message (August 26). 

Just keep the survey form by your computer!  Please return the survey no later than September 10.  Please contact Cyndi Atterbury if you have any questions.  We appreciate your time!

WIC Food Package Evaluation Symposium.  ASTPHND is partnering with the Altarum Institute to present this important conference in Washington, D.C. on November 30.  The symposium will bring together researchers, policy makers and program administrators to discuss the new WIC Food Package and its impact on participants, communities and nutrition policy.  The Content Committee is planning the agenda and would like your input.  If you would like to provide feedback or be involved in the agenda development, contact Phyllis Crowley.  Watch this space for more information!  The Altarum Institute is a nonprofit health care research and consulting organization.  Click on Continue Story below to view the Symposium flyer.

ASTPHND's 2010-2011 Board takes the helm.  On August 1, ASTPHND's new Board of Directors officially begin their term.  We welcome new President Patricia Hess, Director of New York State's Division of Nutrition.  She joins President-Elect Pat Crowley, Nutrition Coordinator of Utah's WIC Program, and Past President Sandy Perkins, Kansas' Maternal and Child Nutrition Consultant.  This year's Secretary is Molly Killman, Alabama's Nutrition Services Assistant, and our Treasurer is Takako Tagami, Missouri's Nutrition Specialist.  Visit our Board of Directors page for a complete listing of our new leaders.

USDA Releases Dietary Guidelines Report.  On June 15, the USDA released the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Report.  The USDA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asked for written comments on the Report.  ASTPHND took this opportunity and submitted its official comments on July 15.  In our letter, ASTPHND President Sandy Perkins wrote, "Since the choices by retailers and consumers often come down to economics, it is essential that the arms of government, USDA and others, work to make healthy choices feasible."  Click on Continue Story below to review ASTPHND's comments.  Click here to view all 1918 comments submitted to the USDA.

Key listserv discussions now compiled on ASTPHND's Resources page.  ASTPHND is now posting on our website key discussion topics from the CDC's nutrition, physical activity and obesity listserv.  Listserv participants often ask other subscribers to share their experiences and materials.  ATPHND is compiling questions and responses in the Resources section of the website.  For example this weblink will take you directly to the resources shared in response to a request for fact sheets for children about sugar sweetened beverages.  We recently posted information on several states' "Maintain Don't Gain Holiday Challenges" and measuring BMI to better understand childhood obesity.  We also have recently compiled resources on Obesity Prevention in Childcare Settings and Promoting Healthy Foods in Grocery Stores.

Tools to keep experienced nutrition staff moving into leadership positions.  State health agencies report that a large percentage of their key staff may retire in the next few years.  This information points to the need for public health agencies to develop a pool of talented staff able to move into management positions.  ASTPHND has compiled information to help you develop a plan and a process to move qualified staff into positions of greater responsibility.  Take a look at Succession Management for ASTPHND Members in the Resources section of this website.

Opportunities to attend webinars, teleconferences and in-person trainings.  We are now compiling information on a wealth of upcoming trainings and conferences.  Just click on the Events tab on the upper left corner of this page and then Upcoming Events to view current conferences and workshops.

Succession Management for ASTPHND Members

2010 Annual Meeting Presentations

Blueprint for Nutrition & Physical Activity: Cornerstones of a Healthy Lifestyle

Personnel in Public Health Nutrition

Moving to the Future Website

Public Health Workforce Survey Report

2009 Training Needs Assessment Report

Enhance Nutrition Services in Your State

The ASTPHND Board of Directors met on August 13.  At the meeting, the Board adopted the following motions:

•  ASTPHND will respond to the FDA's request for public comment on the new federal labeling requirements.  Carole Garner will approve ASTPHND's comments by September 7.
 
•   ASTPHND will sign onto the Center for Science in the Public Interest's letter urging the Interagency Working Group on Food Marketed to Children to release their model nutrition standards. 

The Board accepted the 2009 audit and noted that the auditor was very impressed with ASTPHND's internal controls, especially considering the organization's virtual operations.

In addition, the ASTPHND Board welcomed new Expanded Member LaShon Reese from Illinois and Associate Members Susan Kayman (California) and Timothy Mooney (New York).

Click on Continue Story for the full minutes of the June Board meeting.