Health & Wellness Newsletter – Who’s at the Table?
October 25, 2022

Health and Wellness Newsletter
Group of kindergarteners eating in a cafeteria

October is National Farm to School Month! This month is dedicated to celebrate food education, schools gardens, and lunch trays filled with healthy, local ingredients. 

It takes many people to get food from the farm to the school table – from the farmers and farmworkers who grew the food, to the people who processed and delivered the food, to the school food service staff who purchased and prepared the food. Likewise, students and parents are vital advocates for school food.

We envision a food system where no one is left out, where everyone can get nourishing food. If we want to build this, we must lift up the perspectives of the people at each step of the food value chain, especially being intentional to center those who are not always recognized or valued despite being vital parts of this ecosystem. This year’s National Farm to School Month celebrates people who play roles at different parts of the food system and how their efforts are guided by six key values:

  • Economic justice
  • Environmental justice
  • Health impact
  • Prioritizing racial equity
  • Animal welfare
  • Respecting workers and educators

Explore the bountiful collection of resources that explores all of the people that make up this ecosystem, as well as how they all work together so that people and communities all win:

In This Newsletter:

Post
Cover of report: 4 squares in a blue background showing 4 pictures - two children doing a pinky promise, a smiling family, a mother and her two children, an adult helping a child

Reimagining Medi-Cal
Report

The Children’s Partnership, the California Children’s Trust, and the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality have partnered together on a report entitled Reimagining Medi-Cal: Collaborating with Families and Communities to Advance Child Health Equity. This report highlights the role that social drivers play in shaping a child’s health and well-being. Recent reforms to Medi-Cal promise better serving the whole child’s health. The report recommends that success to this promise is rooted in collaboration between managed care organizations and community partners: 

  • Community collaboratives for health working cross-sector;
  • Community-based organizations (CBOs) serving children/families; and
  • Families and youth themselves
Post
Photo of NARCAN

FDA issues guidance to increase the availability of NARCAN

The FDA has issued new guidance to expand availability and access to naloxone for harm reduction programs. The guidance clarifies a public health emergency exclusion and exemption from requirements of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) regarding the distribution of FDA-approved naloxone products to harm reduction programs.

Post
Activate logo - white text on a black background spelling "ACTIVATE" with a white geometric figure next to it

Research-based Sexual and Reproductive Health Resources for Youth-Supporting Professionals

Activate, a collaboration between Child Trends, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, and Health Teen Network, has created a multitude of resources that translates adolescent sexual and reproductive health research into accessible practices resources: