August 20, 2014
^Inrtlanb (Observer O a c k to S c h o o l
Page 9
Special Edition
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No
Nothing will
improve without an
investment
ping out French fries for sauteed kale
and sugary foods for fresh fruit would
go a long way to im prove our nation’s
diets and health.
If only the kids would eat them, that
is.
by J ill R ichardson
H ere’s the thing. Back when the
You can lead a kid to
law was debated, school lunch and
vegetables, but you can ’ t
nutrition experts agreed on a number
make her eat. Especially
o f things that schools needed, like
if the food doesn’t taste
tougher nutrition standards— but noth­
good.
ing will improve if Congress doesn’t
That’s what the government found give schools more money. As best as I
out in the wake of the Healthy Hunger- could tell, it would take about an extra 50
Free Kids Act o f 2010.
cents to a dollar per meal to really get
I was active in advocating for school school lunch where it ought to be. In­
lunch reform at the time. The bill be­ stead, Congress gave schools a mere six
came law shortly after I published a cents more.
book on U.S. food policy. It seemed like
Cooking real food — the healthy kind
such a perfect solution: Fix school lunch — takes more than just fresh ingredi­
and you improve the diets o f millions of ents, which already often costs more
kids instantly. You also help the next than frozen or canned junk. It requires a
generation develop healthy habits for knowledgeable school lunch staff that
life.
can prepare the food. It requires refrig­
Kids who eat breakfast and lunch at erators, cutting boards, and knives.
school eat nearly h alf their w eek’s
Junk food, on the other hand, requires
m eals in the cafeteria. Kids who ju st freezers, microwaves, and very few skills
eat school lunch consum e nearly one to heat and serve.
quarter o f their m eals at school. Sw ap­
Another sticky point: Making healthy
food taste good for cheap is not easy. As
Michael Moss pointed out in his book
Salt Sugar Fat, Cam pbell’s soup could
drastically reduce the sodium in its soups
if it replaced it with fresh herbs like
rosemary. But rosemary is expensive,
salt is cheap, and if you simply cut the
salt without adding herbs to the soup, it
tastes terrible.
Switching up kids’ food also requires
outreach. Kids can resist trying new
foods, but — with some effort by caring
grow n-ups — they can even enjoy
healthy foods.
Take the time I had fifth-grade Girl
Scouts over to learn about children’s
lives in Kenya. The girls took a pretend
trip to Kenya in which they planted
seeds, harvested kale, and cooked the
Kenyan com dish, ugali, which is similar
to polenta.
I expected full-scale rebellion when
the girls ate their meal of beans, kale, and
com. Instead, they fought over the kale
and begged for more. They didn’t just
earn a badge for their vests, they discov­
ered that beans and green veggies can
taste good.
Without increasing the $11 billion fed­
eral budget for school lunches, you get in
the pickle w e’re in now. Schools can’t
afford to meet tighter nutrition stan­
dards, and kids are throwing out the
increased fruits, veggies, and whole
grains schools now serve instead of
eating them. This shouldn’t be a sur­
prise.
And yet, the political debate doesn’t
revolve around giving schools the in­
creased funding they need to make
healthier lunches work. Instead, Rep.
Robert Aderholt (R-AL) proposed giv­
ing struggling schools a break from the
tighter nutrition standards for the next
school year.
Washington treats school lunch spend­
ing as an expenditure. It’s actually an
investment.
Increased spending on better lunches
could create new jobs for lunch staff
while improving the health of America’s
youth — and that would continue to pay
us back for decades to come as today’s
kids grow up with healthier habits.
O therW ords
colum nist
Jill
Richardson is the author o f Recipe
fo r America: Why Our Food System Is
Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It.
African Leaders Summit: The Ties that Bind
Forging stronger
partnerships
by
M arc H. M orial
“I stand before you
as the president o f the
United States and a
proud American. I also
stand before you as the
son o f a man from Africa. The blood
o f Africa runs through our family.
And so fo r us, the bonds between our
countries, our continents, are deeply
p e rso n a l.” - P residen t B arack
Obama
At a time when much of the world
seems to be tearing apart in places like
Iraq, Israel, Gaza, Syria and Ukraine, Presi­
dent Obama this month hosted leaders
from 50 African nations at the White
House for a three-day summit, described
by the Administration as reflecting “the
common ambition that the people and
government of the United States share
with the people and governments of Af­
rica to leave our nations better for future
generations by making concrete gains in
peace and security, good governance and
economic development.”
Themed, “Investment in the Next Gen­
eration,’.’ the summit was the largest gath-
l > l ■
l » l • l l • « » « • « • < » • - I I I I <
. 4 . , . I . . . . I . , - ,
ering of African heads of state in our
nation’s history.
The President acknowledged the per­
sonal aspect of the meeting by referencing
. his father, Barack Obama Sr., who was
bom in Kenya, as well as the painful legacy
of the African slave trade. But the primary
focus of the meeting was on strengthening
economic ties between the United States
and Africa in ways that spur African
development and create tens of thousands
of American jobs.
President Obama used the summit to
announce a shift in America’s relationship
with what he called "the new Africa.”
Where once United States involvement
centered on providing humanitarian aid to
Africa, it will now concentrate on expand­
ing trade and investments that benefit both
America and the African continent. While
challenges of health, security and gover­
nance remain, the fact is that Africa has
six of the 10 fastest-growing economies in
the world. Its population is expected to
double by 2050, when two-thirds will be
young people under the age of 35.
Deputy National Security Advisor, Ben
Rhodes explained, “Insofar as we can
promote trade and investment, that is go­
ing to create new markets for our goods...
and ultimately create jobs in both the
United States and Africa. So this is about
seizing the opportunity of African growth
and development in our mutual interests.”
In his post-summit press conference,
the President announced that the gather­
ing had generated some $37 billion for
Africa’s progress on top of substantial
efforts that have been made in the past.
This includes $33 billion by U.S. compa­
nies in new trade and investment; a U.S.
government investment of $110 million per
year for three to five years to help build the
peace-keeping capacity of more than a
half-dozen African nations to deal witfr
militant extremists like Boko Haram in
Nigeria and al-Shabaab in Somalia; a tri­
pling of the United States’ Power Africa
Initiative goal, which now aims to bring
electricity to 60 million African homes and
businesses; and an increase in efforts by
both the Obama Administration and Ameri­
can non-governmental organizations to
combat HTV and AIDs and improve ma­
ternal and child health.
The President m ade it clear that
“A frica’s prosperity ultimately depends
on its greatest resource - its people.”
None o f the investments and trade agree­
ments will matter unless African coun­
tries do more to promote good gover­
nance, the rule of law, open and ac­
countable institutions, strong civil societ­
ies and the protection of human rights for
all citizens.
Africa, America and President Obama
are inextricably bound by the ties of blood
and history. We applaud the President’s
commitment to bind our futures with stron­
ger partnerships in economic development
and in meeting the health and security
challenges that affect America, Africa
and the world.
Marc H. Morial is president and
chief executive officer o f the National
Urban League.
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