Alice Ammerman, DrPH (Director, Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Mildred Kaufman Distinguished Professor of Nutrition)
BCBSNC partners with No Kid Hungry N.C. to address food insecurity among public school students by providing financial support for child nutrition programs.
Almost 60 percent of North Carolina’s public school students qualify for free or reduced-price (FRP) meals, many of whom depend on these federally funded meals for nutrition.
To help provide more healthy meals for children across the state, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) will provide $500,000 over three years to No Kid Hungry North Carolina, a public-private coalition housed at the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention that leverages the many strengths of the UNC Gillings School’s Department of Nutrition.
“We have long understood the important role of nutritious food to sustain a healthy life,” says Alice Ammerman, DrPH, director of the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and Mildred Kaufman Distinguished Professor of Nutrition at Gillings. “This is particularly true for children and adolescents. It is crucial to support those who depend on federally funded meals served at school and in the community in order to thrive.”
Gillings doctoral nutrition student Jessica Soldavini, MPH, RD, LDN, is No Kid Hungry NC’s graduate research assistant. She leads evaluation and data analysis projects, created the organization’s afterschool nutrition and cooking programs, and supervises a large team of volunteers and interns — many of whom are also Gillings students.
“Working with No Kid Hungry fits all my academic interests, which has enriched my experience at Gillings,” says Soldavini, who received the 2019 Rise Against Hunger World Hunger Leadership Award for her work. “And I’ve applied the research and evaluation skills I’ve learned at Gillings to my work with No Kid Hungry. The opportunity to work directly in the field both on the research and programmatic side has really been valuable.”
Over the next three school years, Blue Cross NC’s partnership with the No Kid Hungry NC team will support innovative steps to increase participation in existing child nutrition programs and startup expenses to begin new ones.
“Blue Cross NC is committed to tackling childhood hunger in our state,” says Cheryl Parquet, Blue Cross NC director of community and diversity engagement. “Every child should have access to nutritious food, and we’re proud to support the school systems and community organizations that are on the front lines of the fight against food insecurity.”
