By Liz Kresse
February 12, 2007

Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, new chair of the Children, Health and Human Services Standing Committee and a recognized leader on children’s health issues, led an afternoon workshop on the links between childhood poverty and obesity. The session began with a presentation from Jim Weill, President of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), who provided an overview of the connection between obesity and poverty in children. Households that are “food insecure” (i.e., where the supply of food is limited or uncertain due to inadequate income), tend to reduce the quality or variety of food consumed before they reduce the quantity of food eaten because “bad calories are cheaper than good calories.”

As a result, families may avoid going hungry but may be poorly nourished or overweight. One key solution to this problem is federally-funded nutrition programs for children and families. These include: the Food Stamp Program (each dollar in food stamps increases a household’s Healthy Eating Index score, an indicator of overall dietary quality); school lunch and breakfast programs (more cities are now offering breakfast in classrooms or universal breakfast to all students regardless of income); and the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), which provides nutritious meals and snacks to children in child care programs. These programs address food insecurity while also providing nutritious, well-rounded meals.

Mayors can play a vital key role by helping more children and families to learn about and access federal nutrition programs. They can also work with their schools—which are federally mandated to write and implement school wellness policies—to improve the quality of food available in school vending machines and cafeterias. Weil encouraged mayors to contact FRAC for additional information and resources.

Following Weill’s overview, Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory described his efforts to increase the participation of low-income students in universal breakfast, free lunch and summer meals programs. Mallory said, “Ohio leaves millions of unspent federal dollars on the table” that could be used to feed low-income children. He has tackled this issue in his community by meeting with representatives of the school system and local non-profit organizations to work out solutions to food insecurity among children, and by raising awareness of the issue through weekly media briefings. As a result of his efforts, there have been significant increases in the number of meals served to needy children throughout Cincinnati during and after the school day and during summer vacation. Mallory plans to challenge other Ohio mayors to take up this issue as well. He finished by saying, “If we don’t do it as mayors, the issue won’t get the attention it needs.”

The next presentation was from Dr. Lynn Silver, Assistant Commissioner, Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, who spoke about a variety of strategies that New York City has undertaken to address childhood obesity. Some of these include: establishing regulations for city daycare providers requiring more physical activity, limited TV viewing, and specific nutrition standards (e.g., 1 percent only milk after the age of 2); the Healthy Bodega Initiative, which promotes the stocking of 1 percent milk and fresh produce in selected bodegas (corner stores) in two of the city’s poorest neighborhoods; and new health code provisions that require calorie labeling in restaurants that provide standardized menu items, and the partial phase-out of trans fats in all city restaurants. While the trans-fat ban is not related to obesity prevention but to preventing heart disease, it is an example of a public health intervention that is made possible by government action.

The final presentation of a local best practice was from Dr. Cynthia Bell, Director of Nutrition Services for the District of Columbia’s State Education Office. She provided an overview of D.C. child nutrition policies and programs. Some of these include: the Healthy Vending Policy, which bans sodas from public schools and sets limits on portion sizes, fat, and calories for snack foods; the Universal Breakfast policy, which provides a free breakfast to all public school children regardless of income; and the DC Free Summer Meals Program, which has been ranked by FRAC as #1 in the nation and which served over 1.5 million free summer meals in 2006 to school-age children.

For electronic copies of the workshop presentations, visit the website usmayors.org/chhs. For additional information on the Conference of Mayors work in the area of childhood obesity prevention or to join the Mayors Health Cities Campaign, call Liz Kresse, Senior Staff Associate, Health Programs, at 202-861-6756 or send e-mail her at lkresse@usmayors.org.