Chicago

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog: On April 4 th I had the opportunity to join Illinois’ Senator Dick Durbin, the President and First Lady’s personal trainer and member of President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Cornell McClellan and staff from USDA, the Department of Health and...

If there’s one thing Corey Chatman is passionate about, it’s making sure everyone has access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Maybe it’s because he knows what it’s like to rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for nourishment.

On January 24, 2011, a wintry day in Chicago, 20,000 high school students in the Chicago Public Schools were treated to a prize-winning, delicious and healthy school lunch created by their fellow students. Topping the menu was Afro-Caribe Plancha (Cuban turkey, black beans, provolone cheese and...

Yesterday, an ABC Good Morning America (GMA) crew visited the Academy for Global Citizenship in Chicago. Why was GMA at a small neighborhood school on the Second City’s southwest side on a frosty day in January? To help underscore the importance of Agriculture Secretary Vilsack’s recent announcement...

School nutrition folks in Chicago have been busy. Last May, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and locally-based Healthy Schools Campaign launched the city’s Go for the Gold campaign. The effort seeks to have 100 city schools qualify for USDA’s HealthierUS Challenge gold award. As part of that...

While some might think that Chicagoans are only passionate about sports and pizza, they’re mistaken. In fact, lately it seems that residents of the Second City are as jazzed about the food their children eat at school as they are about their Bulls and Bears.

When Chicago heard about First Lady Michelle Obama’s effort to match chefs with schools, the city popped! Inspired by a unique partnership between locally-based Healthy Schools Campaign and Chicago Public Schools, the city saw an impressive number of Second City chefs sign up to participate in the...

Last week I attended a rollicking event on Chicago’s West Side. Healthy Schools Campaign’s Cooking Up Change event—a benefit and competition between students to create healthy and tasty school meals—was attended by over 600 enthusiastic high schoolers, community leaders, local government leaders and...

At USDA Food and Nutrition Service, partnerships are critical to our success in reducing hunger in America. From school lunch to food banks, FNS programs operate more effectively with strong partnerships.

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service Midwest Regional Office collected 4100 pounds of food to support the Feds, Farmers and Friends Feed Families Initiative. We decided to make it fun event and include some of our partners and rename the Food Drive the Yellow Brick Road Food Drive, a spinoff of the...