kevin concannon

Providing our children safe and nutritious meals at school is a key priority for the Obama Administration.  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) helped meet this goal through its $100 million investment in local school systems to enhance the nutritional quality of school meals.  This funding went towards the purchase of new kitchen equipment for thousands of schools across America participating in the National School Lunch Program .  Priority was given to schools that have at least 50 percent of the students eligible for free or reduced-priced meals.

The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act continues to help families, the elderly, the unemployed and children across the country. The Act provided for an increase in monthly benefits for USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. ARRA money provides participating families of four, for instance, an additional $80 each month to purchase nutritious food.

August 5th marked the opening of the Wisconsin State Fair, an event that brings in over 800,000 visitors, and perhaps more impressively, donates 180,000 pounds of food to the Hunger Task Force, a community supported organization that has fed hungry Milwaukeeans for over thirty years.

I had the pleasure of attending the opening ceremonies to celebrate Hunger Task Force Day alongside Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle. After the ceremonies, I enjoyed a tour of the fairgrounds with Farm Service Agency State Director Brad Pfaff, where we saw educational exhibits, cooking demonstrations using healthy foods you can buy on a budget, and vast displays of Wisconsin agriculture. Everywhere we turned, the fair was abuzz with hunger and nutrition education.

By Kevin Concannon, Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services, USDA

By Kevin Concannon, Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services, USDA

Exploring creative avenues to nourish a nation is a great to start any week.  And that’s exactly what USDA Deputy Secretary Merrigan and I had the opportunity to do this Monday (May 10, 2010) during the first Wholesome Wave Foundation conference in Washington, DC.

USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon

On Friday, I had the opportunity to join a celebration of the 5^th anniversary of Riverside Unified School District’s internationally recognized Farmers’ Market Salad Bar Program in Riverside, Cali.  The successful program began as a pilot farm to school salad bar program and today provides healthier options on the menus in the Riverside School District.

USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon joined elementary school students in Bellville, Texas to award their schools “Gold” in USDA’s HealthierUS School Challenge for their outstanding achievements in improving their school nutrition environments.  Their schools, West End Elementary and O’Bryant Primary School along with O’Bryant Intermediate School, which earned gold last year, are Bellville’s three elementary schools and now all HealthierUS Schools.