Revolution Foods

The Challenge

Student academic performance has long been understood to be positively affected by healthy eating habits and regular physical activity. Emerging research also suggests that being overweight is likely to lower students' academic achievement [1].

Poor nutrition is increasingly putting student health and education at risk. In the U.S., only 2 percent of school-age children consume the recommended daily servings from all major food groups [2]; only 50 percent are enrolled physical education class [3]; nearly half a million children are hungry at some point each year [4]; and obesity is on the rise [5].

These risk factors are negatively affecting student wellness and academic performance, exacerbating the achievement gap, and taking a toll on school budgets [6].

With many schools under-resourced, underfunded, and faced with significant barriers to improving school nutrition programs and encouraging healthy eating choices [7], an innovative approach is needed to enable students to enjoy healthy lives so they may reach their full academic potential.

Mission

Revolution Foods delivers tasty and healthy meals and nutrition education to schools and programs across the San Francisco Bay Area. Revolution Foods believes that every child's education should include healthy eating and learning about nutritious food, and that healthy food choices are key drivers of wellness, education, and future productivity of youth.

Full Circle Fund Role

A team of Full Circle Fund members from our Education Circle partnered with Revolution Foods to provide appropriate resources for school administrators, teachers and parents so they could effectively encourage students to make healthy nutrition and fitness choices.

Results

Leveraging Revolution Foods' nutritious food service and relationships with schools, our members worked in partnership with Revolution Foods staff. Together, they:

• Developed a Resource Guide that
• helps teachers teach nutrition education by providing curriculum and professional development resources,
• encourages parents and educators to be role models by making healthy choices themselves,
• helps administration implement or improve school breakfast programs by giving them materials that encourage student participation, and
• gives students the knowledge they need to make healthy choices.
• Delivered the Resource Guide through co-branded "Nutrition Resources" pages on the Revolution Foods website and through the training of Revolution Foods School Account Managers, the primary points of support for schools using Revolution Foods nutrition programs.

Sources

¹ "The Learning Connection: The Value of Improving Nutrition and Physical Activity in Our Schools" (PDF), Action for Healthy Kids, Fall 2004
² Mark Nord, Margaret Andrews, and Steven Carlson, Household Food Security in the United States, 2001 Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 2002
³ Policy Statement on School Health (PDF), The Council of Chief State School Officers, 2004
⁴ Mark Nord, Margaret Andrews, and Steven Carlson, Household Food Security in the United States, 2001 Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 2002
⁵ "F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America" (PDF) Trust for America's Health, 2007
⁶ "The Learning Connection: The Value of Improving Nutrition and Physical Activity in Our Schools" (PDF), Action for Healthy Kids, Fall 2004
⁷ "School lunch program: Efforts needed to improve nutrition and encourage healthy eating" (PDF), United States General Accounting Office, 2003

NAME: Revolution Foods
LOCATION: Alameda
WEB: revfoods.com
GRANT TERM: 2007-2008
TEAM LEAD: Mike Mowery

"Nutrition education is a critical component of Revolution Foods' partnership with schools. Having a team of Full Circle Fund members focused on creating new nutrition education materials and compiling new resources for our nutrition ed program is helping us expand our offerings to 10,000 youth. We feel very fortunate to be able to offer such a robust set of resources for schools to help kids make healthier choices in their lives."

Kirsten Tobey

Founder and COO, Revolution Foods