HOST HEPA Roundup, December 15, 2015

The latest in our regular roundups of healthy eating and physical activity news from HOST members and others.

News

• Action for Healthy Kids provided 286 schools with grants funded by CSX Transportation in the 2014-2015 school year. One of the grantees, John Spry Community School, will use the grant to increase physical activity and engage the school community through a morning walking program and a Family Fitness Night.
• The Pew Charitable Trusts uses the fifth anniversary of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 to look at how it has helped the U.S. create healthier students and schools.
• Share Our Strength looks at the impact of a new Arkansas program that has kids eating breakfast together in their first period classes, instead of early in the morning before school.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture looks at some of the factors that impact the variation in in school lunch and breakfast costs at schools across the country.

Downloadable Tools and Infographics

• Active Living Research's downloadable infographic on how kids learn better if they have daily physical activity and regular breaks is now available in Spanish.
• The American Heart Association has created a downloadable Fruit and Veggie Toolkit for Kids, a collection of resources to help empower children to develop healthy habits for lifelong benefits.
• Many Latinos live in areas with poor access to supermarkets but easy access to corner stores, also called tiendas or bodegas, SaludAmerica! says. It has created three new infographics showing on the impact on the health of Latino children of supermarket availability, farmers' market incentives, and the selection of healthy foods in bodegas. The infographics derive from new "Salud America! Better Food in the Neighborhood and Latino Kids" research package, which "offers an in-depth review of the latest science on the U.S. Latino food environment and policy implications."

Events

• The Food Research and Action Center is hosting a conference call on Providing Quality Programming at your Afterschool Meal Program, December 17th, 2015, at 1pm ET. Register here.