Guest Blog: CAP tackles Wellness in 2012

As part of a new project at CAP, each month we will be featuring a guest blogger from across the agency.  Rainey Talbot, Director of  Marketing and Public Relations, is our fourth blogger. In 2009, the Senior Leadership of CAP knew that an investment in employee health and wellness would not only have a positive impact [...]

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SNAP…sounds simple enough. Right?

My intellectual love affair with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’s Off the Charts Blog continues with their work on SNAP (formerly Food Stamps).  I always find myself trying to correct misconceptions about SNAP and how it impacts the lives of low-income Americans.  I may start memorizing the urls for these CBPP fact sheets.  It would [...]

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Proposed Cuts to WIC Funding

I usually try not to bring politics into the blog, but I can’t ignore this infographic from the Center for American Progress.  I don’t think it really needs a lot of explanation either. To read the corresponding article, click here.

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2011 Summer Food Options in Tulsa

Yesterday was the last day of school for thousands of Tulsa Public Schools students.  No doubt a day many have been looking forward to since the first day of school in August.  But for some, summer is a difficult time because they no longer have the security of free or reduced meals at school.  The [...]

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Mapping the Meal Gap

Traditionally, the USDA produces food insecurity data for the nation and individual states, but much like poverty, food insecurity rates can vary greatly within states.  Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap was designed to look at local food insecurity trends.  The main purpose of the project is to provide local community food banks better information [...]

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A Link Between Housing Stability and Health

Instinctively,we know that a family’s housing situation impacts the physical and emotional health of the family.  Usually, the link between housing and health is limited to comparing the homeless to those who have homes.  There are many  studies that show that homeless children are less likely to be immunized, more likely to be in poor health, more [...]

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Inequality in Child Well-Being

Last month, UNICEF’s Innocenti Research Centre released is 9th Report Card entitled The Children Left Behind: A league table of inequality in child well-being in the world’s rich countries.  The report looks at the question, “how far behind are children being allowed to fall?” for 24 of the world’s richest countries.  In order to answer [...]

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The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act

The House of Representatives passed The Health, Hunger-Free Kids Act yesterday, which means the bill will now go to the President to sign.  The Act expands the school lunch program and gives the Secretary of Agriculture the power to set nutrition standards for school lunches.  The Act also opens up the free lunch program to [...]

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Food Insecurity in Oklahoma

In August, I posted about food insecurity in the US.  That post was based on numbers from 2008, but the USDA has just released their report on food security in 2009.  The study found that 15.2% of Oklahomans are considered food insecure in 2009, which ranks as the 5th highest in the nation.  To read the [...]

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Improving School Nutrition through Behavioral Economics

Amy Fain (Professional Development Coordinator here at CAP) sent me an interesting article on new research into the use of behavior economics to improve school nutrition programs. The new research is funded by $2 million from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).  The initiative represents a partnership between the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service and Economic Research Service.  Officials are hoping [...]

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