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Source: USDA, 9/6/22
It's official! The White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health will be on September 28th – the first of its kind in over 50 years.The
first conference in 1969 had a pivotal impact on our agency. Just a few months
ahead of the conference, Food and Nutrition Service, or FNS, was established to
administer federal nutrition assistance programs. The 1969 conference also led
to:
- Significant
expansion of the National School Lunch Program and the Food Stamp Program
(known today as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP),
- Permanent
authorization of the School Breakfast Program,
- Launch of a
pilot program that would later become the Special Supplemental Nutrition
Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and
- The first
ever Dietary
Guidelines for Americans.
Over the last 50 years, our federal nutrition assistance programs have grown to serve about one in four Americans each year. However, tens of millions of Americans, including children, experience food insecurity, and millions more suffer from diet-related diseases and disparities. These disparities are largely rooted in structural barriers which – among other things – limit access to heathier foods. We must and will do more. We
will accomplish this through a game-changing focus on nutrition security,
which means maintaining consistent and equitable access to healthy, safe, and
affordable food. FNS already has a lot of exciting actions underway designed to
meaningfully advance nutrition security for tens of millions of Americans and
support the goals of the White House Conference. For example, we are updating
the WIC food package with science-informed changes and refreshing school meals
standards while also seeking to support and incentivize schools that pursue
nutritious improvements. These
changes will have tremendous impacts on the millions of families enrolled in
our programs. But we won't stop there. The White House Conference will call
upon all stakeholders, including FNS, to continue to take bold action to
address hunger and improve nutrition and diet-related health. We are committed
to that work and forging a new course to address hardship and health. At
FNS, we look back on 1969 as a transformational year for USDA and for millions
of Americans facing hunger, and we will work alongside our incredible partners
to maximize the 2022 White House Conference so that future generations will
feel the same about the work we're doing together today. Thank
you to all who have engaged thus far through participating in listening
sessions and sharing your ideas. We encourage everyone to tune into the
conference, host a conference watch party, and consider ways we can work together
to end hunger, reduce diet-related diseases, and advance health equity. Let's
do this!
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