Working with school districts to adopt, implement and evaluate competitive food policies

Unregulated competitive food sales reduce the amount of nutritious foods consumed at school. Results from the 2010 Hamilton County YRBS show 10.7% of students ate vegetables three or more times per day and 24.8% of students reported drinking soda one or more times per day during the seven days preceding the survey. WeTHRIVE! offered technical assistance and training to 22 school districts within Hamilton County to assist with the adoption of competitive foods policies. Stipends of up to $5,000 were available to assist with policy adoption and create student teams to assess competitive foods sales pre and post policy. Schools received individual and one-on-one training, an implementation tool kit and parent brochure. Photovoice, food audits and food service director (FSD) surveys and interviews were used for evaluation.Eleven (50%) districts took advantage of the technical assistance offered through WeTHRIVE! and adopted competitive food policies. After the passage of Ohio Senate Bill 210, the remaining 11 districts adopted. Post-policy surveys and competitive food audits showed changes in the competitive food options served in the majority of school districts (91%). FSDs cited perceived decrease in revenue (72%) and student acceptance (72%) as challenges. Limiting access to foods high in calories, fat and sugar through comprehensive policy change is an effective way to increase access to healthy foods in schools. WeTHRIVE! was successful in assisting school districts with policy adoption and implementation. Future programs should extensively educate students, parents and school leaders prior to policy adoption.