FAQs and glossary

Answer:

A food system includes the who, what, where, when and why of our food—from farm to form. Food systems are composed of the many interconnected steps that go into planning, producing, storing, processing, transporting, marketing, retailing, preparing, and eating.

Our current food system is unsustainable and inequitable—from fossil-fuel intensive farming practices, to rural and urban “food deserts” that disproportionately leave low-income communities and communities of color without access to healthy food. This contributes to diet-related chronic illnesses, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and childhood obesity, which are crippling our health care system.

Food & Community is committed to transforming our food system to ensure that all children have good food. By good food, we mean food that is affordable, healthy, green (produced in a manner that is environmentally sustainable), fair (meaning no one along the production line was exploited) and locally grown, when possible.

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To answer this question, we suggest that you contact your program officer to let them know your interest.

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Food & Community is determined to be clear and collaborative in its work. Please help us live out our values by asking us your questions as they arise. Email communications@wkkf.org to submit a general comment or question.

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Food & Community wants to transform school food to grow healthier generations of children. Schools are the public tables at which many of our children eat up to two-thirds of their daily meals—changing the way we feed children in school directly impacts their health and well-being.

Within the Food & Community work, investments will include those that amplify the voices of parents and students demanding good food in schools, promote school curricula that integrate food and wellness into the school day, support farm-to-school efforts nationwide, connect school districts with regional producers and support school efforts to transform the way districts buy food.

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Yes. The technical assistance team includes Headwaters Group (evaluation), Fourth Sector Consulting and Pyramid Communications (communications), Food & Community Connections, PolicyLink (policy/systems change), CANFIT (youth engagement), The Wallace Center at Winrock International (community foods infrastructure/business planning), and National Community Development Institute (community partnerships/engagement).

To request technical assistance support, we suggest contacting your program officer.

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The W.K. Kellogg Foundation is interested in effectively using a full range of public policy options to achieve its charitable mission of propelling vulnerable children towards success. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Food & Community Program believes that policy change is a major driver for achieving sustainable change in the systems that surround us. Policy efforts are a key tool to achieving this goal. The Food & Community work will continue to support informing and educating multiple stakeholders, including the public and policy makers about the issues surrounding children’s health and the food system, among other topics.

The Kellogg Foundation supports advocacy activities, but NOT grassroots or direct lobbying. Lobbying is just one limited form of advocacy. Read the Kellogg Foundation’s Policy brochure to learn how the foundation uses the policy tools to effectively accomplish its program goals

Food & Community will continue to invest in efforts that educate policy makers about solutions for improving the health of our nation’s most vulnerable children through transformation of our food systems and physical activity environments.

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Food & Community will invest in community to increase access to good food and physical activity where children live, learn, and play. Specifically, the Foundation targets investments to improve school food systems, increase access to good food and physical activity, and shape the national movement for healthy eating and active living.

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Food & Community will inform and contribute to the national effort to shape how we feed our children and create safe places where they can be physically active. Through Food & Community, the Kellogg Foundation will expand its participation in this national movement by leveraging investments, expanding strategic alliances and sharing knowledge learned in communities about what works—and what doesn’t—in a continued effort to scale up community models of change.