2nd Annual “The State of the Plate” Thursday June 3rd MetWest High 3:30

[Oakland School Food Alliance]

Oakland School Food Alliance hosts the 2nd Annual “The State of the
Plate”
Thursday, June 3,
MetWest High School
314 East 10th Street
3:30 pm
Childcare and translation
Oakland families and community will meet with Jennifer LeBarre, OUSD
Director of Nutrition Services to learn about the department’s
progress of cafeteria food reform for the past school year. The
annual event is sponsored by the Oakland School Food Alliance. The
Alliance is a grass roots organization of students, families, health
professionals and community organizations from dozens of Oakland
neighborhoods, hills to flatlands, who have banded together to push
for the transformation Oakland Unified 's school lunch program.
Other speakers are Chuck Davies, Associate Director of Residential
Dining of UCB, parents from Stonehurst and East Oakland Pride.
Refreshments by Ester Dixon’s students, the Castlemont Chefs will be
served, along with childcare and translation services.
The local campaign is part of a national effort to increase
healthier fare for American children and increase healthier choices.
Underserved communities rely on the school cafeteria for food
security, yet the food over the past two decades has become
increasingly high fat, loaded with high fructose and processed
resulting in high levels of child obesity and onset of early disease.
Beginning in 2001 OUSD began to reform the program and they can
count among their successes removal of sodas and transfat foods, on-
site farmers markets, salad bars and a recent partnership with
California Association of Family Farms. But there is still much to
do, to eliminate the main diet of highly processed foods that Oakland
student are served each day, which is all that OUSD can afford with
the present budget.
Oakland School Food Alliance was formed in the fall of 2008.
The Alliance works on two main prongs of the fork --to unite community
partnership that can provide resources to a beleaguered financially
strapped program and to increase and mentor parent leadership, which
will support access to healthy food for all the kids of Oakland.
We have regular meetings every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month at
OCO offices in Oakland at 12:30. Though next meeting is schedule for
June 10th.