June 13, 2014

June is National Fruit and Vegetable Month!

Have you ever noticed how fruits and vegetables make up the colors of a rainbow? By using a rainbow as a guide, parents and caretakers can make eating fruits and vegetables fun for children and ensure that they benefit from the wide range of vitamins and minerals they need every day.

Now’s a great time to focus on creative ways to help children explore the many fruits and vegetables you can find in the spring and summer months. We’re spreading the word because we know that our city’s children need healthy foods, including lots of fruits and vegetables, to grow and thrive.   

That’s why CCC advocates not only this month, but year round, for programs that help families access nutritious, affordable fruits and vegetables in neighborhoods throughout all of New York City. 

Some of CCC’s latest advocacy related to the accessibility of fresh and affordable fruits and vegetables includes:

• Emphasizing in our current City Budget advocacy the importance of baselining funds to support EBT/Food Stamp capability in New York City’s farmers’ markets.
• Continued City and State-level advocacy to support and expand the use of federally-funded food programs in New York City farmers’ markets, as recommended in our 2013 report, From Farm to Table.
• Advocating to support the Green Carts program, which brings healthy produce into underserved neighborhoods, both in our recommendations to the new mayoral administration and through our own research into the first year of implementation of the Green Carts program.
• Expanding access to healthy school meals for all NYC public school students by continuing to advance recommendations from our 2012 report on NYC’s school breakfast program, as well as acting as a core member of the Lunch for Learning campaign and continuing to advocate with our colleagues to expand Breakfast After the Bell.

This is just a taste of CCC’s healthy food access work. We’re looking forward to continued advocacy so that all New York City families can fill their plates with colorful fruits and vegetables!

Check out the Food Rainbow Game on WebMD.com. 

Visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture web site for additional resources to help make fruits and vegetables fun and appealing to children.

Tags
Breakfast in the Classroom, farmer’s markets, Economic Security

Comments
0