Successful Students Through Healthy Food Policies

California Project LEAN, working in partnership with 10 California communities, the University of South Florida Prevention Research Center and the California School Boards Association (CSBA), is embarking on a project to motivate policymakers to address and enact local school district policies that support healthy eating. Formative research conducted for this social marketing program included a literature review, key informant interviews with school board members, superintendents and principals, a newspaper scan to evaluate how the media covers adolescent nutrition policies, and a statewide school board and superintendent survey. Target Audience California school board members in school districts in low-income communities Goals Educate school board members about the importance of nutrition policies Increase the number of school district policies that support healthy eating Campaign Timeline Year 1 (July 2001-June 2002) Develop and test messages, materials and dissemination strategies Develop social marketing campaign components Finalize evaluation plan Year 2 (July 2002-June 2003) Implement a statewide social marketing campaign that will include: Print advertisements, internet-based resources and local media coverage A Nutrition Policy Handbook for school boards Professional training, community education and individual knowledge and skill development for school board members and program planners Year 3 (July 2003- June 2004) Complete implementation of the statewide social marketing campaign Administer the post school board survey to measure changes from the pre-test in school board member knowledge, attitudes, and policy actions related to healthy foods Complete data analysis and disseminate research findings For more information on Successful Students Through Healthy Food Policies, contact Victoria Berends, Marketing Manager, at [email protected] (916) 552-9894.