Wellness Wins
Nationwide, school wellness is starting to win in many districts thanks to stronger nutrition and physical activity policies and practices. It’s time to keep up the momentum with greater commitments from parents, school officials, and community leaders like you!
Learn how you can support school wellness policies today, and update your district’s policy to meet the USDA’s June 30 deadline.
School and District Leaders
Get the Facts
Here’s what you need to know about wellness policies.
Wellness policies are the cornerstone of all school health-related initiatives: from physical education to classroom celebrations, they guide and monitor schools’ progress over time.
Since 2004, any district participating in federal nutrition programs is required to create a wellness policy, and the USDA has strengthened the policy requirements over time. Key changes to wellness policies include:
- New rules around which foods are available to students outside of meals
- New guidance for marketing of foods and beverages at school
- Changes to how often schools need to report on their progress and who they need to involve in the process
- Improved guidance about monitoring and evaluation of policies
Get Support
Not sure where to start? You’re not alone. See how other districts have made wellness wins, one step at a time.
- By convening the district’s wellness council, Director of Child Nutrition Services Eric Holliday shared responsibilities and assigned roles to school staff, which enabled Alvord Unified School District to adopt a strong policy that was supported by the entire district.
Read Eric's story -
Starting the wellness policy revision process seemed daunting until Jennifer Tatro, Director of Nutrition Services for Hutchinson School District, learned about the Alliance’s Model Wellness Policy, which gave her a jumpstart and prevented her from reinventing the wheel.
Read Jennifer’s story -
At first, Physical Education and Health Coordinator Lety Ibarra of Mission Consolidated Independent School District viewed the district’s fundraising practices as a barrier to complying with their wellness policy. Now, campuses have swapped bake sales for 5k fundraising runs.
Read Lety’s story
Read more stories of success from 11 districts across the country.
Get Moving
No need to reinvent the wheel: Access resources, trainings and tools to start strengthening your wellness policy today.
Need a refresher on the USDA’s final rule? Watch this short video and review the criteria outlined in our Model Wellness Policy. Then, browse the available tools and resources to address where you need help the most.
Build Your Wellness Council
Improve School Nutrition
- Comprehensive Framework for Addressing the School Nutrition Environment and Services
- Celebrations that Support Child Health
- Healthy Ways to Reward Kids
- School Health Guidelines to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity
- USDA Local School Wellness Policy: Guidance and Q&As
Boost Physical Activity/Education
- School Health Guidelines to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity
- Healthy Fundraising Solutions
Monitor & Communicate
- Implementing, Monitoring, and Communicating Your Wellness Policy
- Wellness Policy Implementation Webinar (Part 1)
Join the Healthy Schools Program to access even more school health resources and to connect with national experts on physical education, child nutrition programs, wellness policies and more.
Join the Healthy Schools Program
Parents and Community Members
Get the Facts
Learn how wellness policies affect you and your family.
Schools are required to include the broader school community, including parents, students and other community members, in the wellness policy process. Your participation leads to policies that better reflect the ideas and needs of the entire community, so it’s important that you get involved!
Subscribe to emails from Healthier Generation
Get Support
Use these toolkits and sample messages to make your voice heard.
Sharing your support for your wellness policy is easy thanks to the sample flyers, presentations, newsletter copy and social media posts included in these toolkits. Just personalize your messages to make them specific to your school’s activities.
Get Moving
There are many ways that you can support your district’s wellness policy, starting today.
As a parent, you can:
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Join the Voices for Health Kids Action Center School Wellness Team and advocate for healthier schools
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Join the PTA and organize a healthy fundraiser
- Send a healthy snack to school that complies with your school’s wellness policy
- Serve healthy meals at home that reinforce what the school nutrition program is serving
- Say “thank you” to the cafeteria staff, teachers or administrators who are creating a healthier school
As a community member, you can:
- Join a school or district wellness committee
- Join the Voices for Healthy Kids Action Center School Wellness Team and advocate for healthier wellness policies at your local school or district
- Share feedback on your district’s wellness policy during the next revision cycle
- Get the word out about the importance of health at school through social media
#WellnessWins Supporters
We thank our campaign supporters who are committed to working with the Alliance, and the American Heart Association’s Voices for Healthy Kids initiative to ensure that school districts are developing and implementing strong school wellness policies.
This campaign was supported by Cooperative Agreement Number 1 NU1ADP003091-01, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.