We're in!

This report summarizes the first meeting of the Advisory Group for the Partnership for Healthy School Food and Environment Action Learning Collaborative. The meeting was held in Chicago, Illinois, April 6-7, 2011, and was attended by 22 nationally recognized experts and key stakeholders with a track record of work on the issue of school food, fitness and environment.

The goals of the initial meeting of the Action Learning Collaborative:

• Educate participants on health and education disparities, the connection between health and learning and the USDA's HealthierUS School Challenge.
• Present case studies of promising practices and partnerships to address childhood obesity in the school setting, and implement the HealthierUS School Challenge.
• Explore issues of program replication and scalability.
• Identify areas for additional research and study, and determine the group's process/needs for meeting the overall goal of the ALC and deliverables.
• Discuss policy areas the ALC will focus on for its research and recommendations.
• Discuss the small grants program and process/parameters for creating and implementing an RFP process.
• Establish a timeline and process for fulfilling the ALC's goals and deliverables.

This initial meeting took place in the context of Heroes for Healthy Schools Week, a series of events to recognize National Minority Health Month, April 2011, that were the result of a partnership of Healthy Schools Campaign , Chicago Public Schools   and the Office of Minority Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.