Community Involvement

Engaging with integral stakeholders both within and outside of the school district enables the Wellness Policy Movement to bolster the links among health and social research, wellness, and environmental change. In addition to helping transform productive struggle into real solutions and results for SFUSD, our internal partnerships foster a symbiotic relationship in which tools, resources and services are shared in order to advance a more comprehensive and inclusive vision of the Wellness Policy that is shaped by all our collaborators. Thus far, we have strengthened relationships with those in the district who have made it their mission to support every student, and especially our most vulnerable, in all aspects of their health, education, and livelihoods.

Did you know that where you live (by zip-code) can predict your health status?  The environments we are born in, grow up in, and live in have proven to either support or hinder our health. Students spend anywhere from 6 to 12 hours a day in a school environment, which is why SFUSD engages the Wellness Policy to implement the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model. Using evidence-based data, we aim to foster health and well-being within the educational environment for all students. Here at San Francisco Unified, we have committed to creating more school environments where the healthy choice is the easy, most-desired choice, particularly focusing on our most vulnerable youth: African-American students with academic achievement and health disparity gaps. 

We are learning that making one small change, like placing fruit-infused water stations in strategic places, can impact how much water a student will drink. This modest step encourages our students to drink more water and less sugary beverages, thus mitigating the increasing rate of diabetes rates and other diet-related diseases.

SFUSD has a longstanding commitment to creating school environments that promote and protect our students’ health, well-being, and ability to learn by supporting healthy eating and physical fitness. The District’s initial Wellness Policy was first adopted in 2003, created by the Student Nutrition and Physical Activity committee in response to the increasing rate of childhood obesity. The USDA would later, in 2004, mandate all districts participating in the National School Lunch Program to develop wellness policies for all schools in their jurisdiction. While the District’s Wellness Policy was considered ahead of its time, the Food and Fitness Advisory Committee (FFAC) would go on to recommend revisions in 2007 and then again in 2015, to reflect the best and most recent health evidence available. After the date of hire of the Wellness Policy Project Manager in July of 2016, the next year and a half was spent surveying the Wellness Policy landscape and aligning core values of Policy, Systems and Environment (PSE) on the student, family, classroom, school, district, city, state and national level. Because SFUSD’s primary focus is to overcome historical systemic oppression and explicit/implicit racial and ethnic biases, the Wellness Policy since 2017 has also been a district framework to elevate equitable health outcomes for our students. 2019-20 Wellness Policy reviewed by USDA & CDE auditors and Wellness Policy Team revised policy to align with current regulations and law. 2022-23 Next Wellness Policy update is scheduled

Funding

• San Francisco Sugary Drinks Distributor Tax (SDDT)

Stakeholder Meeting Dates 

We are holding community stakeholder meetings over the course of the next school semester. Please choose one from each month to attend a total of three meetings. Stay tuned for more information!

• Fall 2021, morning or afternoon
• Winter 2021, morning or afternoon
• Spring 2022, morning or afternoon
• Summer 2022, morning or afternoon

Find us o n Social Media!