April 2021
Greetings!

Against the backdrop of the trial proceedings in the death of George Floyd, another Black man, Daunte Wright, died at the hands of police only a few short miles away. In Virginia, police subjected Army Lieutenant Caron Nazario to use of force and threatening language in what was reported to be a routine traffic stop. These incidents come only a few weeks after the tragic killing of 6 members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in Atlanta, Georgia. Harmful rhetoric and xenophobia have contributed to an acute rise of hate incidents during the COVID pandemic. The organization Stop AAPI Hate recently released a report describing 3,728 hate incidents targeting the AAPI community between March 19, 2020 to February 28, 2021. 
 
Creating healthier communities demands that we vigorously denounce structural racism that systematically undermines our efforts towards progress, especially for Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) communities. Racism is a matter of public health concern. 

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Over the past month, we have been quite busy with programming. We successfully onboarded and welcomed cohort 4 to the Champion Provider Fellowship. We also continued our webinar series and persuasive narrative series. And just last week we hosted our Spring Mini College: Creating a Roadmap for Healthier Communities Through Policy, Systems, and Environmental Change. We will close out April with the final session of our persuasive narrative series. As we are still completely virtual, we continue to keep all trainings open to current fellows, alumni and their corresponding local health departments.

In Health and Solidarity,

Wagahta Semere, MD, MHS
Fellowship Director & Assistant Professor
UCSF School of Medicine
Upcoming Activities
APRIL 2021


MAY 2021


JUNE 2021
Fellow Activities
Along with a colleague, Dr. Kimberly Newell Green (San Francisco County) launched a new campaign Safely Open Schools Now . In addition to a website featuring a multitude of resources, they have also developed a social media toolkit to help others spread the word about the initiative.
Dr. Madhu Raghavan (Santa Cruz County) recently wrote a guest commentary, How PVUSD teachers have persevered in year of distance learning, that appeared in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
*Champion Provider Listserv*
Collaborate & communicate with Champion Provider
Fellows across the state about your community change efforts.
Post a message by emailing: champion-providers@googlegroups.com
NOTE: Please do not use the listserv to share treatment protocol for patients. 
Policy Brief
School Meal Nutrition Standards Bill in California Legislature

A new bill, Assembly Bill (AB) 1197 (last amended 3/22/21), regarding school meal nutrition standards was introduced in the California legislature by Quirk-Silva. The bill would require the California Department of Education to develop new school meal standards for sodium for the 2031-32 school year and for added sugar for the 2025-26 school year. There are existing federal standards for sodium but not for added sugar. 
 
The bill also contains provisions referring to the 2012 school meal standards, but those provisions are already in place in California. 
 
Since the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program are federal, school meals must adhere to federal regulations. However, states and local educational agencies are allowed to have stricter standards provided they concurrently meet the federal regulations. An example of this is chocolate milk. Although chocolate fat-free or 1% milk is allowed within the school meal programs, either the state or local schools may choose not to serve it.
 
Although there is a calorie limit for meals, there currently is no federal limit on added sugar. One recent study that analyzed the sugar content of school meals found that most schools exceeded the DGA limit for added sugars at breakfast (92%), while 69% exceeded the limit at lunch. The leading source of added sugars in school meals (both breakfasts and lunches) was flavored skim milk. 
Organizational Spotlight
In our recent webinar, Partnering with Community Based Organizations, we hosted three organizations doing work in the following areas: food security, local school wellness policy, and nature/park access. Learn more about each of these organizations below.
Nourish California
Nourish California is a statewide policy advocacy organization that shapes the programs and policies that should connect—but sometimes stand between—people and the food they need to thrive. They work with an urgent focus on improving access to food for Californians who face the greatest needs and the starkest inequities. Their team leads statewide advocacy efforts to end hunger, disrupt poverty, and ensure that all Californians are well nourished. Their work also contributes to a larger movement of individuals, communities, and organizations fighting for human rights, dignity, and justice, both within California and beyond. Read More
Alliance for a Healthier Generation
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation believes every child deserves a healthy future. For more than 15 years, Healthier Generation has helped kids develop lifelong healthy habits by ensuring the environments that surround them support their physical, social and emotional health. Driven by their passion that all young people deserve a chance to live healthier lives, their work, in total, has reached over 30 million kids across the country. Read More
Children and Nature Network
The mission of the Children and Nature Network is to increase equitable access to nature so that children - and the nature world- can thrive. Read More
From the Field
Note: Materials included in this section are for reference and information purposes only and do not imply endorsement by the federal government, California Department of Public Health, or the University of California, San Francisco.
Krieger J, Bleich S, Scarmo S, Ng SW. (2021) Annual Review of Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-090419-103005
The review provides a framework for looking at sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) policies to reduce exposure and consumption and considerations to apply to each policy (equity, feasibility and population impact). The authors conclude that no single policy will achieve the required healthy levels of consumption and therefore integrated policy approaches must be considered.
CDC Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity. (February 2021)
The CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity (DNPAO) has released updated data on 37 indicators related to healthy eating, active living, and obesity prevention. The database contains both national and state-level data for review.
Feeding America (March 2021)
Feeding America's Nutritious Food Revisioning Task Force released a toolkit to help the charitable food sector continue to enhance systems and programmatic efforts geared at understanding and meeting nutrition needs of individuals experiencing food insecurity. The toolkit provides guidance on how to provide an intercultural competence lens to this work and suggested nutrition policies to be adopted.
UConn Rudd Center for Public Policy and Obesity
The updated calculator allows individuals to estimate total revenue from a state-level (or national) sugary drink tax (volume-based excise tax) through 2023.
More Opportunities
The annual Enact Day brings together communities from throughout the state to learn more about policies intended to create a healthier, more equitable California. Following a morning town hall, individuals will have an opportunity to do virtual legislative visits.