The Iowa Department of Education has released a new resource to help support the efforts of school wellness committees across the state.
Developed by the Department’s Bureau of Nutrition and Health Services through a Team Nutrition grant, the Local Wellness Policy Outreach Toolkit provides customizable materials that schools can use to promote wellness topics and awareness to their local stakeholders.
“We are excited to share the Local Wellness Policy Outreach Toolkit with Iowa schools,” said Christine Crow, Department education program consultant and Team Nutrition grant director. “The toolkit was created to support busy school staff in their wellness efforts and is adaptable to fit the unique needs of each district and community.”
The Local Wellness Policy Outreach Toolkit includes:
● Videos to encourage parent and staff participation
● Recipe card and bookmark printable handouts
● Newsletter articles
● Social media frames
● Social media posts
● Wellness branding graphics
The materials of the Local Wellness Policy Outreach Toolkit are easy to use. Many of the contents can be simply copied and pasted with minimal changes to help support school wellness committees.
With the toolkit, schools can better implement the local wellness policy requirements set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, while informing school communities about the benefits of having a healthy school environment and robust wellness policy. The toolkit can help schools recruit and motivate parents and staff to participate on the wellness committee and serves as a reminder of the importance of having engaging school wellness committees and wellness activities.
To help support the release of the Local Wellness Policy Outreach Toolkit, Department team members will cover toolkit best practices during the final Wellness Wednesday Webinar on May 14 from 2-3 p.m. Any school personnel who work on school wellness policy and activities are invited to register for the webinar.
The Local Wellness Policy Outreach Toolkit can be found on the Department’s website.
Team Nutrition is an initiative of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service to support the Child Nutrition Programs through training and technical assistance for foodservice, nutrition education for children and their caregivers and school and community support for healthy eating and physical activity.
Questions regarding the Local Wellness Policy Outreach Toolkit can be directed to Jenn Schultz at jenn.schultz@iowa.gov or Christine Crow at christine.crow@iowa.gov.