ICN and USDA Partner for Team Up For School Nutrition Success – Institute of Child Nutrition
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (center) with attendees of the recent Team Up For School Nutrition Success in Washington, D.C.
In partnership with USDA, ICN has conducted Team Up for School Nutrition Success workshops for six of the seven regional offices: Southeast Team Up at ICN on November 12-13, 2014, Southwest Team Up at ICN on April 14-15, 2015, Northeast Team Up in Concord, New Hampshire on May 19-20, 2015, Western Team Up in San Diego, California, on June 16-17, 2015, Midwest Team Up in Rosemont, Illinois, July 21-22, 2015 and Mid-Atlantic Team Up in Arlington, Virginia on August 4-5, 2015. ICN staff from our Headquarters and Applied Research division welcomed well over 100 attendees at each of these events, including school nutrition directors, state agency, USDA national and regional staff, and allied organizations.
The last regional Team Up workshops are scheduled for the Mountain Plains region in Kansas City, MO, September 22-23.
We offer a huge thank-you to all USDA, State Agency, Mentors, Participants, and ICN staff members for making this truly beneficial initiative a huge success.
Team Up Thursdays webinars began in January and have been conducted on the last Thursday of each month reaching over 2,259 live attendees and well over 800 have watched the recordings available on ICN’s website. Webinar topics include: Plate Waste, Increasing Participation, Menu Planning, Financial Management, Allied Organizations, Making Sense of the Science on Sodium, and Professional Standards. Each of these recorded webinars can be found here – Team Up Thursdays! Webinar Series
All Team Up materials are available on ICN’s Team Up For School Nutrition Success website
Exciting Growth and Change… – Institute of Child Nutrition
Beginning July 1, 2015, we began using our new name, Institute of Child Nutrition (ICN). For over 25 years, the Institute has been serving child nutrition professionals nationwide and providing them with high quality resources, training, and research. Along with a rich history of supporting these professionals, the Institute has experienced tremendous growth in the amount of resources and services we provide. Inspired by this growth, we searched for a new name that would reflect today’s image of professionalism and service in the field of child nutrition. (more…)
ICN Courses Updated for Professional Standards – Institute of Child Nutrition
ICN’s Online Course list has been updated to include the USDA Professional Development Codes, and the SNA Key Areas have also been revised to align with the USDA Codes. This will assist with identification of the areas of required Continuing Education Units. Updating all content of each Online Course will be ongoing during this transition. If you have any questions, you can call email helpdesk@theicn.org. NEW! USDA Foods: Disaster Preparedness – the latest addition to the Online Course Catalog – click HERE for the catalog.
School districts #gimmefive for healthy school food – Institute of Child Nutrition
Some of the country’s largest school districts – including Detroit, Dallas, Chicago, Memphis, New York City, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Austin, Philadelphia and more – gathered in San Diego in April 2015 to talk about bringing local foods into the lunchroom. We were honored to host them for a tour, and equally excited to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Let’s Move initiative by doing the #gimmefive dance! Schools are doing way more than five things to keep kids healthy and active, but here’s a taste of what we’re up to.
NFSMI’s Executive Director, Dr. Katie Wilson, SNS Accepts Presidential Appointment – Institute of Child Nutrition
We are pleased to advise that Dr. Katie Wilson will be joining us as Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services starting on May 1. Katie is currently the Executive Director of the National Food Service Management Institute, a strong partner in our efforts to improve school nutrition. She has had a wealth of experience in school nutrition serving in a variety of positions in schools in Wisconsin. She has testified before Congress and has served in leadership roles in the School Nutrition Association. Her clear and lifelong passion for improving the health of school children and her vast experience in this field make her a perfect choice to hit the ground running when she joins us later this Spring.
Dr. Wilson’s professional leadership and ongoing engagement with nutrition and health leaders across the country are welcome assets to the FNCS team.
Please join me in welcoming Dr. Katie Wilson.
Kevin W. Concannon
Under Secretary
Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services
United States Department of Agriculture
Suite 216E | Whitten Building
1400 Independence Avenue | SW
Wash, DC | 20250 | USA
