2006 Local Wellness Demonstration Projects Grants

States that participate in the Team Nutrition Local Wellness Demonstration Projects have a Cooperative Agreement with FNS and will do the following:

• Assess local wellness policy activities in selected school districts,
• Document the process used by these school districts to develop, implement and measure the implementation of a locally adopted school wellness policy,
• Document any school environmental change
• Assess the level and types of technical assistance necessary to implement and evaluation a local wellness policy.

California

The California Department of Education, Nutrition Services Division (NSD) will establish a statewide wellness policy advisory working group that includes the California School Boards Association, California Action for Healthy Kids, Department of Health Services, California Project LEAN, State Parent Teacher Association, and the California School Nutrition Association. The working group will provide guidance to NSD throughout the demonstration project. Mini grants will be awarded to schools districts that participate in the demonstration project. In order to document school environmental change, pre and post assessment tools will be developed and data will be collected through self-assessment, site visits, and interviews with school officials, foodservice staff, students, parents and teachers.

Iowa

Iowa's Team Nutrition Local Wellness Demonstration Project builds on previous resources and training provided to Iowa schools to meet the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 Local Wellness Policy requirement. The Demonstration Project will examine the influence of multiple USDA related nutrition interventions on school policy and practice, and identify key underlying strategies that predict success in school nutrition policy and practice. Mini grants, as well as training and technical assistance will be provided to participating school districts in Iowa. Iowa's core team for this project includes expertise in the areas of business, education, marketing, nutrition, public health, and public policy.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania will select a group of school districts to serve as demonstration sites for local wellness policy implementation. These school districts will identify problems associated with their local wellness policy implementation, generate solutions and develop action plans with support and assistance from the Pennsylvania project team. Training and technical assistance using the three TN implementation strategies will be provided to these school districts and tailored to meet the individual school district's needs. Process and impact evaluation of the demonstration projects will be conducted through survey and assessment forms for students, parents, teachers, administrators, and school foodservice directors, interviews and focus groups with the school local wellness policy implementation team and other key school personnel, inventories of competitive foods offered, and the examination of the PA Department of Education's required reporting forms related to wellness policy development and implementation.