​School Food

HOPE Collaborative partners with Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) on efforts to improve the quality of food served in schools; directly engage youth on proposed changes to the school food menu and the School Wellness Policy; and to promote innovative school food programming led by OUSD, such as Oakland FRESH School Produce Markets and universal free school breakfast.

Highlights from our partnership include:

• HOPE partners working with OUSD Wellness staff on supporting healthy mobile food vending around schools in order to improve the food environment in neighborhoods where schools are located.
• In 2014, HOPE established a partnership with OUSD and Center for Ecoliteracy around youth engagement for OUSD’s Farm to School initiative California Thursdays.  California Thursdays is a school food program of OUSD in which 100% of school lunch ingredients are sourced from California farms every Thursday.  Since then, HOPE’s Youth Action Board has surveyed close to 500 students to gain student input on proposed school lunch menu items.
• HOPE’s Youth Action Board provided youth input into the School Wellness Policy in 2013, particularly around nutrition education, physical education, and creating opportunities for healthy food entrepreneurship.  The School Board passed the revised School Wellness Policy in 2014.
• HOPE Collaborative conducted community education and outreach around a bond measure (Measure J) that would finance major facilities improvements enabling OUSD’s Nutrition Services to construct a Central School Kitchen.  Voters passed the bond measure in November 2012.
• HOPE engaged hundreds of parents and students within OUSD about their experience with the school breakfast program.  Based on the feedback provided, HOPE developed a set of recommendations to OUSD’s Nutrition Services to improve delivery of the school breakfast program.
• HOPE Collaborative volunteers partnered with East Bay Asian Youth Center and OUSD to support produce distribution operations for the Oakland FRESH School Produce Markets during the 2011-2012 school year.