Work Group Meeting, Friday, December 6, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams

Attendees: Jayne McBurney, Emily Horney, Tish Singletary, Alice Ammerman; Staff: Ashley Rink

• Priority Review
  • The updated priorities for 2024-2025 from the work group meeting on October 25, 2024, are:
    • Integrate “Rethink Your Drink” toolkit into school curricula, promoting water as a healthy alternative to sweetened beverages.
    • Promote healthy procurement policies to support public and private investment to increase the availability of healthy alternatives to sugary drinks and limit “default beverage” options for all meals served to people of all ages at food venues to include only milk, 100% fruit juice, or water.  
    • Ensure access to safe and clean water in schools at water-filling stations that have been tested for safety.  
    • Implement healthy choice beverage in vending machines at schools, community colleges, universities, and parks.  
    • Build collaborations/partnerships with nutrition education providers and oral health. 
• Updates and Action Planning
  • Priority: Build collaborations/partnerships with nutrition education providers and oral health. 
    • Discussed strategies for integrating dental health into broader health initiatives, such as working with childcare health consultants.
    • SNAP-Ed will be funding part of the Go NAPSACC program for the state of North Carolina, which focuses on integrating nutrition education and best practices into childcare settings. This program also includes an oral health segment along with promoting healthier eating habits among young children.
  • Priority: Promote healthy procurement policies to support public and private investment to increase the availability of healthy alternatives to sugary drinks and limit “default beverage” options for all meals served to people of all ages at food venues to include only milk, 100% fruit juice, or water.  
  • Considered metrics for evaluating the success of health promotion policies, including food service guidelines and policy adoption, both at the state and local levels.
  • Reviewed methods for tracking outcomes of health promotion policies.
  • Explored the possibility of measuring food service guidelines and healthy retail designations, with a focus on local, state, and school policies.
  • Inquired about the status of the muscadine grape juice policy implementation in schools and community colleges. Refer to House Bill 67 for additional information.
  • Shared NC State Action Coalition is working to reinstate healthy retail designations and will post a position to collaborate with SNAP-Ed agencies.
  • Discussed the potential for Dollar General stores to offer fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables as part of a healthy retail initiative.
  • Reviewed recent changes in state leadership and their potential impact on policies related to sugary drinks and health.
  • Discussed the challenges of implementing fluoridated water policies and emphasized the importance of community water fluoridation for supporting dental health. Reviewed the role of professional organizations in supporting water fluoridation initiatives.
  • Explored the "Food as Medicine" concept and identified opportunities for alignment with agricultural partners.
  • Discussed engaging with emerging leaders and collaborating with school nutrition programs across the state, including Carolina Hunger and NCDPI Nutrition.
• Next Meetings
  • The next work group meetings were scheduled for the following dates.
    • Friday, February 14, 2025, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams
    • Friday, April 11, 2025, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams
  • The co-leaders will plan to connect on Friday, June 13, 2025, from 10:00 to 11:00 am to prepare for the 2025 NC SHIP Community Council Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting date has not been set at this time.

Work Group Meeting, Friday, October 25, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams

Attendees: Crystal Adams, Alice Ammerman, Maryanne Burghardt, Emily Horney, Abigail Martin, Jayne McBurney, Ruma Simhan, Tish Singletary, Les Spell, Rhonda Stephens

• Welcome and Agenda Overview
  • The co-leaders for the Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption Work Group for 2024-2025 are Crystal Adams, Alice Ammerman, Jayne McBurney, and Tish Singletary.
• Grounding and Level Setting
  • The Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption Work Group is part of the North Carolina State Health Improvement Plan (NC SHIP) Community Council.
  • The desired result is for “All people in North Carolina live in communities that support healthy food and beverage choices.” The work group has been focused on strategies to reduce the consumption of sugary beverages.
  • The data on the indicator, Healthy North Carolina 2030 Indicator 13: Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption, and from the NC Oral Health Regional Snapshots were reviewed.
  • Highlighted importance of oral health in relation to beverage consumption and engagement with the Oral Health Section.
• Priority Review
  • The Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption Work Group’s 2023-2024 priorities were as follows.
    • Integrate “Rethink Your Drink” toolkit into school curricula, promoting water as a healthy alternative to sweetened beverages.
    • Promote healthy procurement policies to support public and private investment to increase the availability of healthy alternatives to sugary drinks and limit “default beverage” options for all meals served to people of all ages at food venues to include only milk, 100% fruit juice, or water. 
    • Ensure access to safe and clean water in schools at water-filling stations that have been tested for safety. 
    • Implement healthy choice beverage in vending machines at schools, community colleges, universities, and parks.  
  • The following updates were shared.
    • Les Spell shared data on sugar-sweetened beverage consumption of teens and other related data available on the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s website, NC Healthy Schools Data: NC School Health Profiles.
• Oral Health Section
  • Emily Horney, Early Childhood Oral Health Coordinator, and Ruma Simhan, Director of Strategic Initiatives, with the Oral Health Section with the Division of Public Health, shared about the Oral Health Section’s roles, capabilities, limitations, goals, and how this work group can best support them.
  • Discussed building collaborations/partnerships with nutrition education providers and oral health; challenges include gaining access to schools (due to parental consent issues, parents' bills of rights, and competition with mobile units serving Medicaid students), as well as a lack of awareness of Oral Health programs. Highlighted need for broader partnerships to promote oral health messages.
  • Addressed safe water issues, particularly concerns about fluoride safety (EPA), and the need for partnerships to address these challenges. Highlighted importance of promoting safe, fluoridated water.
  • Discussed funding for oral health initiatives (e.g., toothbrushes), including potential sources such as CDC funding.
  • Rhonda Stephens is submitting a proposal for fluoridation advocacy and conducting surveys to assess public perceptions of safe tap water for a public health campaign (focused on 2-4-year-olds).
  • Discussed potential collaborations between oral health and nutrition sectors.
• Action Planning
  • Proposed adding a priority specifically for promoting oral health along with reducing sugar-sweetened beverages.
  • Discussed updating data in existing graphics.
  • Planned to draft and share new priority information.
  • Discussed the passed 'grape juice bill' mandating muscadine grape juice in schools.
  • Explored potential ways to address the intersection of agriculture and health policies.
  • Proposed developing supportive language for agriculture that aligns with health goals.
  • Promote NC Agricultural policies that support ‘Rethink your Drink” and Food as Medicine.
  • The updated priorities for 2024-2025 include:
    • Integrate “Rethink Your Drink” toolkit into school curricula, promoting water as a healthy alternative to sweetened beverages.
    • Promote healthy procurement policies to support public and private investment to increase the availability of healthy alternatives to sugary drinks and limit “default beverage” options for all meals served to people of all ages at food venues to include only milk, 100% fruit juice, or water.  
    • Ensure access to safe and clean water in schools at water-filling stations that have been tested for safety.  
    • Implement healthy choice beverage in vending machines at schools, community colleges, universities, and parks.  
    • Build collaborations/partnerships with nutrition education providers and oral health. 
• Review of Next Steps
  • Jayne McBurney: Draft information on new priority for promoting oral health along with reducing sugar-sweetened beverages. Share draft information with work group to review and provide feedback.
  • Alice Ammerman: Develop wording to support health and agriculture alignment in policies.
  • Emily Horney: Check on CDC funding restrictions for purchasing incentives, like toothbrushes.
• Closing
  • The next work group meeting was tentatively scheduled for Friday, December 6, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams.