On Tuesday, sixth grader Tammy Nguyen brought down the White House with some choice words. Leading up to a much-anticipated announcement in the State Dining Room, Nguyen described how she helped grow a rainbow of vegetables in a kitchen garden on the “first lawn.”
“My friends and I have learned a lot about change, about eating healthy food, and making the right choices,” the former Bancroft Elementary School student explained. “My classmates and I plan to keep that color on the plate–and I don’t mean M&Ms,” she said.
Nguyen then introduced First Lady Michelle Obama, who summoned all hands on deck to bring the Bancroft students’ experience to every American child in the interest of better health. She outlined a detailed initiative, called Let’s Move, to curb the startling rate of childhood obesity (about one in three children is overweight or obese, she said), and save the nation’s kids from preventable diseases. Such an initiative can also create jobs and help fish the budget out of a deficit. That can only happen, Obama said, if many sectors work together and the action starts immediately.
“Instead of just talking bout this problem, instead of just worrying and wringing our hands about it, let’s do something about it,” said the first lady. “Let’s act…. let’s move.”
A new Task Force on Childhood Obesity will propel the initiative. Once on course, Let’s Move will include $10 billion in funding over 10 years for programs in the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization, and $400 million to infuse “food deserts” with supermarkets and other sources of healthy food. The specific tenets include healthier choices (clearer food labeling, better eating habits), healthier schools (through the Healthier US Schools Challenge Program and the Child Nutrition Act), and physical activity (an hour or more a day, and more opportunities to get that 60 minutes in).
Perhaps the most exciting part for DC Food For All members and readers is the fourth mainstay: Accessible and affordable healthy food for everyone. To achieve this, the task force will identify problem areas with a new USDA Food Environment Atlas, work to eliminate food deserts, and implement more programs for school gardens and urban gardening.
Michelle Obama not only brought the concept of a food desert to national attention; she proclaimed the initiative will banish such wastelands in seven years. And it seeks to push out childhood obesity in a generation. Fresh, local food claims an important place in both efforts.
Also exciting was the way Obama connected the dots. Having Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius commit to the task force and attend the announcement seemed only natural. Including the secretaries of agriculture, education, the interior, HUD, and labor spoke to a paradigm shift. Alleviating childhood obesity will take a multi-pronged effort, the umbrella approach implies, and a new way of thinking about food and well-being.
Obama had recruited former NFL star Tiki Barber—along with key players in the Obama administration, members of Congress, figures in sports and entertainment, and leaders in the business and medical communities—to join her at the announcement. But it was the mayor of a small town in Mississippi and a Milwaukee, Wisc. farmer who talked most convincingly about the power of wholesome food.
Mayor Chip Johnson, of Hernando, Miss., started a farmers market on shaky ground one August. “Everybody said ‘well, it was too late in the season’,” Johnson said. “But we said ‘no, let’s get going. Let’s do it now.’ So we started.” In the next two months, 23 vendors signed on.
Will Allen, who founded the urban farming initiative Growing Power, took the stage soon after Johnson. Allen stressed the importance of access to fresh produce, and explained that urban agriculture can prove very profitable. The average conventional farm produces about $500 or profit per acre, he said, while a new approach to agriculture that he uses yields $5 per square foot–a total of $200,000 an acre. In addition to eating the fruits of such operations, Allen feels it is crucial for children to take part in growing them.
As DC Food for All reported, urban agriculture is getting a lot of attention in America. District residents have already thrown their energy and ingenuity behind the idea, with initiatives like Common Good City Farm, the Washington Youth Garden at the National Arboretum and the Neighborhood Farm Initiative are doing just that.
It may not matter if it’s at a market or on a farm. When I talked with him later, Allen agreed that D.C. can make high-yield urban agriculture happen. For every challenge, like contaminants in the soil, he seems to know of an advantage—or five. Composting could play a part in soil remediation, and the excess compost could become a lucrative product.
Just like the buy-in Obama garnered from cabinet members, kids will need to take part in getting a move on. As the next generation of eaters and growers ripens, Allen said, the key is having the kids experience real food—like Nguyen’s classmates did. “If they can touch it and feel it,” he said, “they’re bound to go the next step.”
For more:
Watch the full announcement
Read the Washington Post coverage in today’s paper and yesterday’s All We Can Eat blog
Check out the new Let’s Move website
View the new USDA Food Environment Atlas, which identifies “food deserts” that lack sources of fresh food
Photos, from top: Michelle Obama announces the Let’s Move initiative; middle school student Tammy Nguyen recalls planting and learning from the White House Kitchen Garden; Will Allen, of Growing Power. All photos by the author.
I don’t watch TV. I encourage those who did not see this event to click on the link to view the event on C-Span. Will Allen rocked. It’s miraculous that the White House gave him this platform and that he was allowed to say the things he said. Amen!
Will Allen will be returning to the DC area June 18th for “Sowing Seeds Here and Now” Urban Farming Summit:
(http://sowingseedshereandnow.com/).
Vinnie Bevivino is organizing the “DC leg” of this summit which may end up being just outside of the city. I urge everyone to stay abreast of this and other urban ag related events that will be coming up–and join us. These are really exciting times.
Technical but, I think, important point here. The $1 billion per year for the as-yet-to-be reauthorized Child Nutrition Act and the $400 million to address food deserts are proposed appropriations in the President’s budget. They will be available only if and when both houses of Congress approve them. Critical need for grassroots action here.
Great points! Carl, I agree Will Allen did do a nice job. Another reporter turned to me after his remarks and said “Think he maybe went off script a little bit?”
He just said what he had to say.
Kathryn, thanks for the point about the budget. I hadn’t realized it’s pretty far from a done deal. Important to remember to keep on our reps.