Media Center

Share Our Strength Partners with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to Address Childhood Hunger and Obesity

Three-year partnership to address availability of high-quality, nutritious food for America's children.

(Washington, DC) August 20, 2007 - Share Our Strength®, one of the nation’s leading organizations working to end childhood hunger in America, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) outlining the two organizations’ mutual intent to develop and improve health outcomes for the over 12 million American children at risk of hunger, address childhood obesity and hunger particularly among low- income families, and attend to disparities in nutrition and obesity prevention and control.

At an internal meeting of the CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity leaders from Share Our Strength and the CDC discussed their interest to increase the availability of high-quality, nutritious, and satisfying food for all children in low-income communities. This is the first such agreement between the CDC and a national anti-hunger organization.

“There is a remarkable and unexpected link between hunger, lack of nutrition and obesity in this country,” explains Share Our Strength Managing Director, Patricia Nicklin. “Bringing CDC’s efforts to bear on this important problem through a long-term partnership is a critical step in finding and implementing effective solutions.”

“The CDC is committed to finding long-term solutions to the alarming growth of childhood obesity in our country by providing a multi-dimensional approach, including policies and environmental changes that will improve access to fruits and vegetables and other healthy foods,” says Dr. William Dietz, Director, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity. “We are proud to be partnering with Share Our Strength to facilitate the involvement of public health programs, private sector volunteers and foundations in the fight against childhood hunger and obesity in the United States.”

Share Our Strength partners with the public and private sectors to promote and facilitate access to nutritious food in schools, community centers, and at home. To that end, Share Our Strength in partnership with other stakeholders, recently developed a nationwide 10-point plan to end childhood hunger, and is implementing it first in Washington, DC to serve as a national model. In its first year, the D.C. plan has made solid progress in providing nutritious food to the 35,000 children at risk of hunger in the District of Columbia.

Share Our Strength is in the process of first replicating this national strategy in Florida and Washington State, where it will focus on three strategies: creating state-specific plans and building state and local leadership in the public and private sectors to take ownership of each plan; convening state and local officials, businesses, school administration, and nonprofits on a county-by-county, school-district level to take an active role in their state’s plan; and building capacity of a key statewide organization to monitor and implement the state’s plan long-term.

If you liked this, please help us spread the word by sharing it with others.