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Setting the Record Straight: Nutritionists Define Healthful Food

Sign-on Letter Now Released!

Strategic Alliance has released the sign-on letter, Setting the Record Straight: Nutritionists Define Healthful Food.  Motivated by concern over issues like food safety, industrial agriculture practices, climate change, and deceptive food marketing, health and nutrition professionals developed Setting the Record Straight to establish a clear, comprehensive definition of healthful food.  This definition looks beyond nutrients to acknowledge that truly healthful food comes from a food system where food is produced, processed, transported, and marketed in ways that are environmentally sound, sustainable and just.

Are you a health or nutrition professional?  And your name to the growing list of signatures endorsing Setting the Record Straight!  With your support, we will add to the growing momentum urging government and industry to promote policies and practices that create a sustainable, equitable, and healthful food system.

Read what Marion Nestle had to say about Setting the Record Straight in her blog, Food Politics!

To download and endorse Setting the Record Straight: Nutritionists Define Healthful Food, or to learn more, click here.

Register now for ENACT Nutrition and Activity Day—April 29th!

ENACT 2009: Nutrition and Activity Day is an opportunity for advocates from across the state to come together to highlight the need to improve healthy food and activity environments for all Californians. Join fellow advocates on April 29th  in Sacramento as we share information with legislators about public policies that can improve opportunities for healthy eating and activity.  ENACT Day is designed for everyone to participate – parents, community leaders, and health, recreation, and transportation professionals.  The day will include a morning training and legislative visits in the afternoon.  There is no charge to participate and travel scholarships are available.

To register for ENACT 2009, please visit: http://www.cfpa.net/ENACT2009/mainpage.htm or contact George Manalo LeClair at george@cfpa.net. 

Realizing the Vision for a Healthy California

Strategic Alliance is preparing to release its new report, Realizing the Vision for a Healthy California: Opportunities in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  This resource highlights the important opportunity that California has to leverage federal stimulus dollars to:

1. Support health-promoting infrastructure and programs that will jumpstart the economy;

2.Promote equitable health and safety outcomes, and;

3. Improve the business climate in California communities.

The report focuses on eight key areas of investment and highlights potential stimulus funding streams that could be utilized to support each area.  Stay tuned to Strategic Alliance for an announcement of this exciting report’s release!

CANFit Launches MO PROJECT

MOre good food, MOre physical activity, MOre play spaces, MOre opportunities for Youth!  That’s the tagline for California Adolescent Nutrition and Fitness’s (CANFit) new media competition targeting California Youth, ages 13-18.  CANFit is asking youth from across the state to create short films and posters that explore what is or is not in their neighborhood, community, school, or environment that plays a role in shaping their health. 

Finding creative, visual ways to answer questions such as is good food available in my neighborhood or is there a safe place to play supports advocacy efforts aimed at creating healthy communities.  MO PROJECT submissions will be shown to state and local policymakers with the goal of helping to shape future funding and laws to create healthy communities.  Five winners will be chosen, including a People’s Choice Award, and prizes will be given.  To learn more or participate in MO PROJECT, click here.

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Unlocking the Playground: Achieving Equity in Physical Activity Spaces

California Pan-Ethnic Health Network invites you to its upcoming Spring Convenings series titled Unlocking the Playground: Achieving Equity in Physical Activity Spaces. This workshop will focus on the lack of safe spaces for our communities to be physically active, and what people across the state are doing on this important issue. The event will be held in Fresno, Oakland, San Diego, and Los Angeles in April and May.

For more information and to register, please click here, or contact Ruben Cantu at rcantu@cpehn.org.

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2009 Childhood Obesity Conference: Creating Healthy Places for All Children

Early registration for the 2009 Childhood Obesity Conference is now open. Over the course of three days, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from over 100 of the country's leading experts on the most pressing and innovative issues related to childhood obesity.  Speakers will share new strategies and opportunities for attendees to take back to their own programs and communities as they meet the current challenge of trying to provide more with less.

Van Jones will be the featured keynote speaker at the closing plenary session. Mr. Jones, who is committed to greatly expanding the coalition, fighting global warming, and creating "green pathways out of poverty," is a tireless advocate, social entrepreneur and recent best selling author of The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Solve Our Two Biggest Problems.

The conference will take place June 9-12, 2009 in Los Angeles, CA. To register before May 8th, 2009 and save $50 off the registration rate, please click here…

Apply for a Poster Session: Limited space is available; posters must be submitted by Wednesday, April 1, 2009. Click here to apply…

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California WIC Association Web Forum Series

CWA will be hosting a series of web forums to describe changes in the WIC food packages and explore ways to support and partner with local WIC programs to maximize the health benefits of these historic reforms. Find out about best practices and resources that can be used to Make Change Matter in your community! Each Web Forum is tailored to the interests and needs of particular WIC partners, so click on link below to register for the one that best suits your needs.

• Emergency Food Providers and Anti-Hunger Advocates -Mar. 18
• Childcare and Early Childhood Providers and Advocates-Apr. 1
• Grocery and Farmer's Market Partnerships-May 27
• Breastfeeding and Early Feeding Providers-Aug. 5
• Medical and Nursing Care Providers-Aug. 26

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13th Annual Conference of the Community Food Security Coalition: Workshop and Poster Session Proposals due March 16- April 30, 2009.

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The Economic Stimulus: Opportunities and Challenges for Underserved Communities

Webinar Tomorrow, March 31, 2009, 2:00pm – 3:30pm EST

Expert Panel:

• Dr. Brian Smedley, Moderator, Vice President and Director, Health Policy Institute - Joint Center for Political and Economic
• Dr. Darrell J. Gaskin, Associate Professor of Health Economics, University of Maryland
• Adam Thompson. Senior Health Policy Specialist, Progressive States Network
• Larry Cohen, Executive Director, Prevention Institute

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Local Government Commission Workshop Series:

“Implementing SB 375: What Local Governments Need to Know about Climate Change Legislation”

April 16 - Riverside

May 7 - Fresno

June 4 - San Diego

June 25 - Los Angeles

July 15 - Oakland

July 30 - Sacramento

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Project for Public Spaces 7th Annual International Public Markets Conference

April 24-26, 2009, San Francisco, CA

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FOODMED 09: The Third Conference on Local, Sustainable Healthcare Food

June 30 – July 1, 2009, Detroit, Michigan  

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The Praxis Project: Learning Circle Series, 2009

Policy Advocacy: Creating Better Policies, May 29-31, 2009

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Thanks for reading!  The Strategic Alliance is currently engaged in building a broad and diverse statewide membership.  If you were forwarded this e-mail and want to receive your own copy in the future, please click here or e-mail shakirah@preventioninstitute.org.  And if you’re already a member, please forward this message to your colleagues so we can continue to strengthen our coalition.  Thank you!

WHAT IS THE STRATEGIC ALLIANCE?

The Strategic Alliance is reframing the debate on nutrition and physical activity away from a focus solely on individual choice and lifestyle towards one of environmental influences and corporate and government responsibility. Current Steering Committee members are: California Adolescent Nutrition and Fitness Program (CANFit), California Center for Public Health Advocacy (CCPHA), California Food Policy Advocates (CFPA), California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, California Park and Recreation Society (CPRS), California Project LEAN, California WIC Association (CWA), Child Care Food Program Roundtable, Latino Health Access, Partnership for the Public’s Health, Prevention Institute, and Samuels & Associates.

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