Healthy Eating and Active Living

Connections between local and national efforts are driving systems change to improve our national food and physical activity environments so that all children thrive. Alongside our partners, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation continues to shape the national healthy eating and active living movement through strategic investments. Specific grantees include:

• Food & Community Fellows. This program, formerly called Food & Society Fellows, encourages the use of mass media channels to inform and shape the public agenda on healthier food. Fellows include food, agriculture, and health activists and professionals from across North America.
• Partnership for a Healthier America. In 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama launched Let's Move!, an ambitious initiative to end childhood obesity within a generation. To support her efforts, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation joined many its long-term collaborators to launch the Partnership for a Healthier America. This independent, nonpartisan organization focuses on four key goals: offering parents the tools and information they need to make healthy choices for their kids; getting healthier food into our nation's schools; ensuring that all families have access to healthy, affordable food in their communities; and increasing opportunities for kids to be physically active, both in and out of school.
• National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC). This alliance of grassroots organizations advocates for federal policy reform to advance the sustainability of agriculture, food systems, natural resources and rural communities. NSAC's vision of agriculture is a safe, nutritious, ample and affordable food supply produced by a legion of family farmers who make a decent living pursuing their trade. While doing so, they protect the environment and contribute to the strength and stability of their communities.
• Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP). An estimated 400,000 children work in the fields of the United States, many of whom are the children of migrant farmworkers. AFOP's Children in the Fields Campaign has been dedicated to ensuring that farmworker children are protected and given an opportunity to succeed in life. Through education and advocacy, the Children in the Fields Campaign hopes to get farmworker children out of the fields and back into schools.
• Campaign for Fair Food. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers spearheads the Campaign for Fair Food, which seeks to improve wages and working conditions for Florida tomato pickers. To date, the campaign has secured nine major human rights agreements with fast food, supermarket and food service providers who are large purchasers of tomatoes.
• Roots of Change. Roots of Change works to develop and support a collaborative network of leaders and institutions in California with an interest in establishing a sustainable food system in the state by 2030. This network involves food producers, businesses, nonprofits, communities, government agencies and foundations that share a commitment to changing our collective food thinking, food markets and food policies.
• Milagro Foundation. The Milagro Foundation is supporting low-income communities in developing healthy alternatives for children in the areas of food, nutrition, and health. Specifically, they support community-based efforts that increase access to healthy and affordable food and enhance children's wellbeing by creating environments that support healthy diets and opportunties for physical activity.
• National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). The National Conference of State Legislatures is a bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staffs of the United States, providing research, technical assistance and opportunities for policymakers to exchange ideas on pressing state issues. NCSL is educating state legislators and their staff members about the complex factors that contribute to Americans' ability to enjoy healthy, good food and safe places to exercise and play. They are also reporting on legislation in all 50 states that supports and strengthens the food systems and policy structures that bring healthy foods and physical activity opportunities to vulnerable children and communities.
• Convergence Partnership. The Convergence Partnership is a collaborative effort among six of the most influential philanthropic entities in the nation, including the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, California Endowment, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, Kresge Foundation and Nemours, with technical assistance provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These funders share the goal of changing policies and environments to advance a vision of healthy people living in healthy places.
• W.K. Kellogg Foundation Sustainable Agriculture Endowed Chairs. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has strengthened a national network in sustainable agricultural systems by establishing endowed chairs at six universities and colleges nationwide, with plans to name others. The chairs provide leadership in engaging communities with sustainable agriculture research and education. The chairs have also joined with directors of centers and other key faculty to form the Interinstitutional Network for Food and Agriculture.