Annual Report2017

3

4

5

6

7

8

10

11

Letter from our Chairman

WhoWe Are

Our ProcurementWork & Engagementwith Industry

Our Policy Position

Our Practices & Partnerships

Activities

Support

Financial Statement

Table of Contents

Eric Goldstein

Chief Executive OfficerSchool Support Services for NYC Department of Education

ChairmanUrban School Food Alliance

Dear Friends,

What was supposed to be a regular school nutritionmeeting in Denver during thesummer of 2012 turned out to be the beginnings of the Urban School FoodAlliance.

At the time, food service directors from New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami-Dade, Dallas and Orange County (Orlando) saw an opportunity to band togetherto leverage our purchasing power to affordably source higher quality, healthier,andmore sustainable food for the students we serve. Since that initial meeting, weincorporated to form a 501(c)(3).

Over this past year, our membership grew from six to 11 districts, now includingBroward County (Fort Lauderdale), Clark County (Las Vegas), Philadelphia,Baltimore City, and Boston.With a collective food budget of $837million, we havea total student enrollment of more than 3.6 million students.

As school food service directors, our greatest responsibility is to provide studentsaccess to tasty, nutritious meals that are high in quality, no matter their financialcircumstances at home. We need to get away from the attitude that school mealsare only for the kids who can’t afford to bring lunch from home. The new approachto serving school children shouldmean offering free lunches to ALL students. Thiswould not only directly benefit the children and their families, but it would alsocut through the current bureaucracy and enable companies to sell more of theirhealthy products to our cafeterias.

Moreover, we also understand the correlation between the importance of eatinga healthy meal and student academic performance. Eating is part of theeducational day and mealtime needs to be treated as such. Students should begiven enough time to eat so that they are not rushed or forced to skip mealsaltogether because of dwindling meal periods. Just like math and science, foodand eating should be thought of as part of, and not an intrusion upon, theeducational day. Eating well is learning well.

We challenge our teachers, our administrators, and our state and governmentofficials to look at the school breakfast and lunch not just as a meal program, butalso as what they were originally intended to be: enrichment programs. Schoolmeals enrich students’ developmental growth. They enrich healthy eating habitsfor life. More importantly, they enrich student success in school.

I hope that you will join me in celebrating the work of the Urban School FoodAlliance over the past year, and we look forward to strengthening our capabilitiesto further serve the students in our districts.

3

Working CollectivelyThe Alliance crafts food bids that focus on improving the health andwellness of students. The group is in the process of researching theprocurement of organic, clean label, rBST-free products, protein-grain richfoods, as well as the inclusion of even healthier, breakfast options forstudents. Over the next year, the Alliance aims to procure more than 30new products that dramatically increase the health and sustainability ofschool meals.

As one of the smaller districts in the Alliance, we couldn’thave afforded to purchase compostable plates on ourown. This initiative aligns with GreenFutures, the

district’s overall sustainability plan and advances theDistrict's work in reducing our environmental impact.

Wayne T. GraselaSenior Vice President of Food Services

School District of Philadelphia

"

"Engaging the IndustryMembers of the Alliance and staff have also been involvedin ongoing meetings with the food manufacturing anddistribution industry to share their visions for school foodand to better understand market trends and capacity. Thegoal of this “Industry Engagement” effort is to increasestudent access to more types of healthy food at affordableprices by streamlining the existing school foodprocurement system. This effort will continue throughout2018 and into 2019.

Environmental ImpactAs far as the environment is concerned, the Alliance’s workconcentrates on the procurement compostable serviceitems. It works closely with the Natural Resources DefenseCouncil (NRDC), one of the nation’s leading environmentaland public health organizations, to ensure that that allproducts to be purchased are not only safe for students, buttheir specifications also meet environmentally-friendlypractices.

5

Our Procurement Work &Engagement with industry

Inspiring ChangeThe Urban School Food Alliance has already created systemicchanges in the food service world for healthier, nutritious mealsfor students. Even before many of the nation’s leading restaurantscalled for healthier poultry in their menus, the Alliance alreadyadopted a policy to help school districts move toward anantibiotic-free standard for companies to follow when supplyingchicken products to schools. In addition, the Alliance rolled outthe use of compostable round plates in cafeterias, removinghundreds of millions of polystyrene trays from landfills every yearto ensure sound environmental practices.

6

Significantly invest in the food procured by school districts by increasingthe USDA Food commodity dollarsThe Alliance suggests the commodity allocation formula be increased by $0.33 centsto a total of $0.99 per lunch served in the previous year. This increase will align thefood costs of the program with many private schools that invest more in their foodprograms. Private schools in Alliance cities spend an average of $3.75 for food atlunch, as opposed to Alliance districts of about $1.30 per meal. This increasedallocation of USDA Foods will continue to stimulate American businesses by allowingschool districts to purchase additional and improved varieties of foods for students.

Expand non-congregate feeding opportunities to increase access to foodUnder current regulations, children must eat their meals in supervised premises where they are served -- commonly known asthe "congregate feeding requirement." While Alliance members are champions of food safety, they also believe that thecongregate feeding requirement is not necessary to serve meals safely.

By removing congregate feeding requirements, more meals can be served to students who have limited access to nutritiousmeals at home. Furthermore, past studies have shown that children living in low-income households eat healthier mealsprovided by school than from outside of school.

Provide meals to students as part of their instructional day byimplementing“Free”Meals for AllThe Urban School Food Alliance believes that school children enrolled in thenational school breakfast and lunch program should be able to receive a freemeal. Public schools do not give free textbooks to children below the poverty linewhile requiring their wealthier classmates to purchase the books. Students shouldbe served equally when it comes to school meals no matter their financialcircumstances at home.

Expand the educational opportunities that exist duringmeal timesThe instruction day does not stop when a student is eating. The Alliance’s visionis to have meal time, especially lunch, become a part of the instructional schoolday - not a separate service. The Alliance proposes that one full time food teacherbe funded by the Department of Education to specifically support lunch servicein every school. This person would be responsible for creating and maintaininglessons plans for each school day.

The Urban School Food Alliance encourages lawmakers to continue to supportthe standards set by the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act (HHFKA) passed byCongress in 2010, to ensure the health and wellness of students and to combatchildhood obesity. To the Alliance, maintaining the HHFKA standards ensuresthat every child has access to the healthiest food possible in order to do well inschool, while developing healthy eating habits for life. All the districts in theAlliance have successfully implemented the meal guidelines set by the HHFKA.

The Alliance also advocates for the following changes in the Child NutritionReauthorization. These recommendations support the development of thestudents in our schools, which in turn support the interests of all Americans.

Our Policy Positions

7

Residency ProgramSince its inception, members of the Urban School Food Alliance share best practices to strengthen thegroup’s capabilities. One of the programs it supports is a Residency Program. Staff members from onedistrict request to be transferred to another Alliance city where they can job shadow their counterparts inthe area of finance, marketing, grant writing, compliance, quality assurance, recipe and menudevelopment as well as farm-to-school practices. The residency program aims to inspire and educateparticipants, who will then in turn share what they’ve learned with fellow staff members in their homecities.

“Having gone through the residency in NewYork provided valuable insights that I broughtback to Chicago. At the time, I was the financemanager and had never even thought of

visiting another district. I thought we were sodifferent, but soon realized we share the samechallenges. For example, in the past, ChicagoPublic Schools has done food tastings to getstudent input. Seeing this in New York

reinvigorated the program for Chicago. I alsomade connections with my New York

counterparts. They are now a phone call awaywhen I have questions on menus, equipment,software and bid documents. The residencyprogram is an invaluable experience.”

Crystal CooperDirector of Nutrition Support Services

Chicago Public Schools

"

"

Our Practices & Partnerships

8

Nourish to FlourishIn partnership with the National Dairy Council and DairyManagement, Inc., the Urban School Food Alliancehosted the Nourish to Flourish summit in Chicago in thespring of 2017. More than 350 people – leaders inschool districts, industry, culinary, health andgovernment - attended the event all in an effort toensure that every child in America has access tonutritious school meals.

Attendees are now working on the following areas tofurther elevate the school meal program:

Activities

Efficient Joint ProcurementThe Urban School Food Alliance, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a number of small and medium schooldistricts and about 10 food manufacturers have been working to create a common bid document in order to simplifythe food procurement system. That way school districts have easier access to ever healthier affordable food items.

Student InvolvementEncourage students to have voice in the decision process when it comes to school meals.

Nutrition PolicyDevelop a nutrition policy that is adaptable and flexible at the local level to give students a variety of nutritious foodsfrom which to choose.

Education in FoodEnsure that meal time becomes a part of the instructional school day by incorporating lessons in nutrition.

The School Food ExperienceCreate a welcoming environment for students to eat and provide them with adequate meal times.

EnvironmentCreate a school meal program that highlights fruits and vegetables that are sustainable - locally sourced wheneverpossible.

Technology and InnovationDevelop technology in school meals that promote quality, efficiency, and reliability.

Fresh Attitude Week celebrations have helped raise thepopularity of produce in school meals in the UrbanSchool Food Alliance districts. The Alliance districtsincreased fresh fruits and vegetable consumption inschools during Fresh Attitude Week by nearly 34percent, from 8.6 million servings in 2016 to 11.5 millionservings in 2017.

Fresh AttitudeWeekThe Urban School Food Alliance celebrated Fresh AttitudeWeek for the third year from May 8-12 in 2017. In collaborationwith the French Department of Agriculture and in partnershipwith Interfel (French Inter-Branch Association of Fresh Fruitsand Vegetables which created Fresh Attitude Week), FreshAttitude Week has become an annual event in America, alongwith France and Italy, to highlight and increase consumption offresh fruits and vegetables in schools.

Activities

In 2014, the French Ministry of Agriculture, Agrifood and Forestry invited members of the Urban SchoolFood Alliance to visit France to observe how the French government and the fruit and vegetable sectorpromote food awareness and healthy eating in schools. In 2017, the French visited Miami-Dade, OrangeCounty (Orlando) and Broward County (Fort Lauderdale) to observe school lunch periods and share bestpractices.

9

With GratitudeThe Urban School Food Alliance deeply appreciates the organizations that help make the Alliance workpossible. From financial support to capacity building, sharing of expertise, and ongoing staff support, theUrban School Food Alliance is grateful to funding partners and organizations that have given to further themission of the Alliance.

Special thanks to our partners: and our donors:

Support

10

11

Financial Statement