I have been working on my practicum for some time, but this is my first time to post on the MPHN blog. My overall goal for the practicum is to address and update the nutrition component of the Food For Kids Program (BackPack Program) at the Arkansas Rice Depot. I will work to develop a nutrition policy, which includes requirements and guidelines that outline not only the items that are acceptable to purchase/donation for the program based on their nutritional value, but also dictates how the food items are to be distributed to the children participating in the program.

I have found thus far, however, that less of my time has been spent creating the nutrition policy, and more has been spent researching and examining existing policies at other organizations. Much of my focus is determining the existing body of knowledge and compiling that information in order to develop a policy that best serves the Arkansas Rice Depot based on best practices and the successes of similar, existing programs.

My practicum has been going well thus far, and I am learning a lot about different nutrition policies at Food Banks across the country. I reached out to Dr. Schwartz who is the director of the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity – she is one of the authors of the study A Qualitative Study of Nutrition-Based Initiatives at Selected Food Banks in the Feeding America Network– to inquire about possible contacts. She responded to me and shared suggestions for food banks that I should consider contacting that have solid nutrition policies in place.

From there I have started reaching out to contacts and arranging times to talk about nutrition policies at their facilities. I am hoping that through this process I can learn more about what other organizations are doing and what might work or not work for the Arkansas Rice Depot. Once I have information from the different contacts compiled I can develop something that will work for the Rice Depot and meet its specific needs. I am finding that quite a few organizations are starting to take notice of nutrition and they are willing and happy to share what they have done. I think we can learn from established programs and their successes – no need to reinvent the wheel.

Looking forward to sharing my next status update soon!

Emily