Background: The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA) directed the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to revise school meal standards to increase healthy food offerings. A critical stakeholder in the implementation of standards is Food Service Directors (FSDs). We sought to examine FSDs' perspectives on revised school meal standards to…

Recent increases in child obesity have sparked concerns about competitive foods--foods sold to students at school that are not part of federally reimbursable school meals. The nutritional value of these foods is largely unregulated, and students can often purchase these foods in addition to or instead of school meals. Nearly 9 out of 10 schools…

For 15 years, "Newark Kids Count" has provided insight into the challenges facing Newark's children and families. This report presents the portrait of Newark children in 2010. A special section on Newark charter schools is also presented. Advocates for Children of New Jersey's (ACNJ's) goal in choosing this topic was to inform the…

For the 8th year, "Newark Kids Count 2005" paints a statistical portrait of city children, who are born with so much promise and given so few chances to fulfill that promise. As the city, and indeed the state, labor to build a child welfare system that keeps children safe and families together, everyone must remember that real children…

"Camden Kids Count 2004" provides a snapshot of child well-being in one of New Jersey's most impoverished cities, in the hopes of helping both city and state policymakers make use of limited resources to help New Jersey's neediest children. Here are some major findings documented in this report: (1) Thirty-five percent of Camden's…