Will Allen, founder and chief executive officer of Growing Power, was recently one of three featured speakers at First Lady Michelle Obama’s announcement about her national initiative to fight childhood obesity- Let’s Move.
Allen joined Dr. Judith Palfrey, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics and Willis Johnson, mayor of Hernando, Miss., the region with the highest childhood obesity rate in the nation. The announcement called attention to the need for children to have healthier schools, more exercise, access to affordable healthy food and the knowledge to make healthier choices on their own.
Allen spoke about the need to create new infrastructure to grow food in cities and new networks to channel food from diversified local farms into communities in order to improve access to fresh foods.
“We need to look at this as a critical challenge from birth, even from before birth,” Allen said. “From pre-natal nutrition to what children are being fed in daycare centers, to kindergarten and all through the grades, we have to ask ourselves why we are settling for poor food for our children. We have to institutionalize good food in our schools, and not only in the cafeteria but in our teaching every day.”
He also discussed the need to be able to grow food year-round despite some harsh climates. Check out the focus of the Let’s Move initiative here: http://letsmove.gov/
