New York Coalition for Healthy School Lunches

School programsfood servicein 2023 we continued our formal partnership with New York city's department of education office of food and nutrition services (ofns). We participated in quarterly meetings and continued to work with them to promote plant-based entrees. We provided continuing education to about 350 of their management team, with vesanto melina, ms, rd presenting on our behalf in september. Cool School food in the classroomcool School food in the classroom is a curriculum that we developed to introduce and promote specific plant-based recipes being served on the nyc schools lunch menu. The lessons are always taught in the morning and they are impactful because they are taught on the days that the dish is being served at lunch. In 2023, we delivered 9 lessons from this curriculum at three different schools, three at each School: ps 971, ps 134 in brooklyn and ps 244 in queens to about 200 elementary-age students. for these classes, the recipe we featured was sweet potato gumbo, a dish inspired by the culture of west africa. We do a slide-show presentation featuring images from west africa including architecture, landscape, transportation, families and children, food, animals, and more. Then the students learn about the ingredients in the recipe with a hands-on sensory experience of seeing, touching, and smelling the ingredients. for example, they smell the spices, put their hands in a giant bowl of dry beans and play with the beans (which they absolutely love doing), and pass around the vegetables. Our teachers, the classroom teachers, and our volunteers have a "cheat sheet" of questions to ask about each ingredient, for example, which vegetable is the butternut squash, or what food group the black beans belong to (legumes). The students then have a sample of the dish that the cafeteria has prepared extra of, and we ask how many liked it, how many thought it was just okay, and how many did not care for it. We also remind students that sometimes it takes many tries to See if we like something or not, and encourage them to try it again if it was not their favorite. Then we lead an inquiry-based discussion about the power of plants. Food unearthed: uncovering the truth about food food unearthed: uncovering the truth about food is a curriculum that we developed for elementary School children consisting of 24 lessons per year for pre-k, kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grades. Each grade level has its own unique set of lessons with a theme, and each week includes a Healthy plant-based snack. From january through june of 2023, we continued teaching our weekly food unearthed: uncovering the truth about food lessons in two brooklyn elementary schools. A total of twenty-four lessons were taught to each of two kindergarten classes at ps 971 in sunset park, reaching approximately fifty-two students weekly. At ps 90 in coney island, brooklyn, a total of twenty-four lessons were taught to each of three classes of pre-k students, reaching approximately sixty students every week. Every lesson included a Healthy plant-based snack, and several lessons were devoted to hands-on food preparation. From october - december of 2023, we taught our food unearthed: uncovering the truth about food lessons at ps 134 in kensington, brooklyn. A total of 10 lessons were taught in each of four classrooms with a total of 88 students each week. The students learn where food comes from with fun games, stories, and art activities. A summary of the lesson and description/recipe of the snack that was served is sent home every week for the parents/caregivers so that they can reinforce the message and try the snack at home. We also taught a series of five food unearthed: uncovering the truth about food lessons for 85 pre-k students in lower manhattan. Parents told us that they thought the lessons were great and really important for their children.after School cooking classeswe provided five after-school family cooking classes at ps 244 in queens. We did one class of twenty people (10 students with one parent/caregiver) for each grade in the School for a total of one hundred participants. Students chopped veggies, measured ingredients, and assisted in preparing a dressing or sauce alongside their parent/caregiver. Cooking classesat city knoll middle School, we provided two cooking classes to each of three sixth grade classes, for a total of 65 students during the School day. Students made a white bean hummus dip and ate it with veggies pita bread for one of the classes, and in the other they made a non-dairy yogurt parfait. Visiting vegan chefs programthere are over 15 nyc high schools with culinary arts programs. These four year programs teach students nutrition, knife skills, kitchen and food safety and basic cooking and baking techniques. With our visiting vegan chef program, we introduce culinary students to the up and coming world of vegan cuisine by enabling them to learn from and cook with accomplished vegan chefs. In these classes, students are split up into groups of four or five to prepare a recipe. At the end of the class, we all sit down and eat together. In 2023, we reached a total of one hundred and ninety culinary students in four New York city schools. The chefs that we invite to participate are charismatic, talented and culturally diverse. At food and finance high School in manhattan, chef anthony solano demonstrated the afro-latino dishes he veganized for his newly opened restaurant in Connecticut. At tottenville high School in staten island, we brought chef anthony spino who grew up in a large italian family that had their own restaurant. He talked about his journey to adopting a vegan diet - emphasizing the benefits he experienced as a long distance runner. In chef spino's class, the students learned how to make non-dairy ricotta and an alfredo cream sauce out of tofu. We also brought chef spino to francis lewis high School and long island high School in queens. In these classes, since they were taught close to earth day (april 22nd), our program director kelley wind began with a discussion of the environmental impact of animal agriculture on the climate and why plant foods are the best way that we as individuals can impact climate change and what a huge difference it can make. Industry scholars programin partnership with the industry scholars program, we worked with ten high School interns majoring in various healthcare fields. for eight weeks, we met weekly with the students over zoom. We assigned several films for them to watch. The students were asked to try the plant-based meals in their School cafeteria and provide their feedback. They also conducted research and wrote responses to articles on plant-based nutrition and the impact of animal agriculture on climate change. At the end of the internship, eight students reported eating more plant-based meals because of the experience, and they all said that they would take what they learned and that they thought it would influence them in their future work in the healthcare field. Special events at schoolsevery year we are invited to table and/or present at special events focused on Healthy eating and/or the climate that attract parents, students, teachers, School board members, food service staff, and other School community members. Green and Healthy nightwe participated in a school-wide green and Healthy night at ps 321 in brooklyn that had an attendance of approximately two hundred people. We had a table with a non-dairy milk tasting and handouts about plant-based eating. Our partnership with the nyc office of food and nutrition services resulted in the distribution of samples of black bean plantain power bowl (one of the plant-powered items on the School's lunch menu that was originally developed by us) at the event. This was significant because it gave all the parents and students an opportunity to try a delicious New menu item that is available to their children in School. Earth dayat base high School in brooklyn, we participated in their school-wide earth day event for the second year in a row. We brought vegan empanadas and the cafeteria staff provided samples of their vegan kale salad. We had a table with plant-based snacks and literature about diet and climate change. Family dinner nightswe have been holding family dinner nights for more than 12 years. Family dinner nights are catered by either the nyc office of food and nutrition services (ofns) or a restaurant/caterer that we bring in. Anyone who works in the School, all students and anyone who lives with them are invited for a free plant-based dinner and talk by a md or rd. In 2023, we held family dinner nights at three of our partner schools, all catered by nyc's ofns as we are using these dinners as opportunities to promote the plant-based options on the School menus at lunch time.

Coalitions and conferencesin march of 2023, we presented to the New York state dry bean farmers about our work in schools. There were approximately 40 farmers and those who worked with farmers there. We present to them every year about our work getting beans on School menus and they provide us with a grant to do this work. We participated in a conference in october: exhibiting at the New York state School boards association by offering information for School board members and superintendents to consider about the importance of Healthy School food, and partnered with impossible foods, offering two usda-compliant plant-based options that met the "meat/meat alternate" component requirement. We participate as part of a national Coalition of non-profits that work on School food issues. We participate in monthly meetings with the goal of educating the public and creating policy change. Specifically we are trying to elevate the importance of eating high fiber foods, and providing alternatives to cow's milk due to equity issues. We participate in the food ed Coalition run by the tisch center at teacher's college, a Coalition of non-profit organizations in New York city that provide nutrition education in schools. We meet with them monthly to network and this provides support and ideas for our programming.

Resource developmentfood unearthed: uncovering the truth about food curriculumwe continued an extensive process to re-write our food unearthed curriculum and continued working specifically on the lessons for pre-k. This involved a curriculum writer, a teacher, and the Coalition for Healthy School food executive director and special projects manager and included work on the lessons, the extensive materials needed for the lessons, the take home handouts for the parents/caregivers, and getting feedback from our teachers.