Back to school means back to tasty, healthy meals served to nearly 30 million children every school day.
FNS works to ensure all communities in need have access to foods that support health and well-being. Our goal is to ensure program participants have access to culturally and religiously preferred foods and that program operators have resources to best serve their communities.
The Civil Rights Division ensures that FNS complies with the laws, regulations, policies and guidance that prohibit discrimination against employees and applicants in the federal workplace. Equal Employment Opportunity laws prohibit discrimination in employment to ensure fair hiring, competition in promotions and equal access to training/development opportunities.
The Civil Rights Division provides leadership and comprehensive protection against discrimination in FNS employment practices and delivery of programs to the public.
Our mission is to ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies for FNS customers and employees regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, marital or family status, political beliefs, parental status, protected genetic information, or because all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program.
The Farm Bill authorized $20 million for pilot projects to evaluate health and nutrition promotion in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to determine if incentives provided to recipients at the point-of-sale increase the purchase of fruits, vegetables or other healthful foods among SNAP participants.
FNS launched the Eat Smart. Play Hard. campaign to promote USDA’s healthy eating and physical activity messages to children ages 2–18 and their caregivers. This campaign is an FNS agency-wide initiative and represents the latest effort by FNS to meet its strategic goal of improving the nutrition of children and low-income adults while at the same time addressing the major public health issue of the increasing prevalence of obesity among our nation’s youth.
This report fulfills the request from Congress in the House Appropriations Committee Report (HR 107-116), which accompanied the Agriculture Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2002.