School Wellness Teams
A significant focus of our work has been to develop active, engaged school wellness teams in each district. Schools are at the center of rural communities. Vulnerable children in Iowa attend schools, predominately public schools. We believe that creating robust wellness teams is the key to sustainability, ongoing community engagement, and policy and practice change.
The School Wellness Team Action Plan helps school communities mobilize school-based wellness teams. It also helps schools meet standards established by the Iowa Healthy Kids Act— legislation that establishes physical activity requirements for students and nutritional content standards for food and beverages sold or provided on school grounds.
School wellness teams are a highly successful aspect of our work. When we started this work, there was one active school wellness team in the region. In the 2011-12 school year we had active school wellness teams in 18 out of 20 public and private school districts in the region. Membership includes 240 individuals serving as active wellness team members in these districts. Fifteen teams are meeting at least six times per year or monthly, exceeding the twice a year meetings required by the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Through our FFI Resource Contacts, we worked to assure engagement of community members on School Wellness Teams.
