HSC is a national leader in addressing issues of health and wellness, particularly in connection with the growing crises of childhood obesity and asthma. HSC is a leading authority and regular media source on healthy school issues and relevant programs and practices. Its work with the Chicago Public Schools to coordinate district-wide efforts, make policy recommendations, share knowledge and develop pilot programs has become an important model for improving the school environment. This work has led to major changes to the district's school food program which now meets the gold nutritional standard of the USDA's HealthierUS School Challenge. HSC was the main nonprofit organization to participate in the process of developing new district guidelines. HSC has also published the Quick & Easy Guide to School Wellness, a step-by-step guide for schools as they implement and evaluate their local wellness policies. HSC recognizes the importance of engaging policymakers as it articulates the priorities of school stakeholders. HSC led a coalition that successfully championed a state policy which requires schools to adopt healthy and environmentally- friendly cleaning programs. A blueprint for action, HSCs Quick & Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools, is used by schools and systems around the United States. Additionally, HSC guided the creation of the Illinois Resource Guide for Healthy, High-Performing School Buildings, an official state document, providing state of the art strategies for building and maintaining schools with lower-cost, high-efficiency systems and healthy environments. A primary focus of HSC is the recruitment of parents to participate at all levels of organizational activity, including opportunities to be heard by decision makers. In Chicago, at the urging of the HSC-led Parents United for Healthy Schools coalition, the Chicago Public Schools created a recess taskforce to evaluate the district's policy and recently created recommendations for schools to implement recess, and thousands of parents have participated in HSC wellness activities and outreach. HSC works with additional school stakeholders including students, teachers and principals and is galvanizing all these stakeholders around its newly launched Go for the Gold partnership with the Chicago Public Schools. HSC works for policy change and market transformation on a national level and has taken the lessons learned from its work in Chicago to inform federal policy around issues including the reauthorization of the National School Food Program. Cooking up Change, HSCs healthy cooking contest has become a national platform for discussing the need for more resources for healthful school food. HSC also sits on the EPAs Childrens Health Advisory Committee.

Launched in 2002, the Healthy Schools Campaign (HSC) advocates for policies and model programs that allow all students, teachers and staff to learn and work in healthy school environments. Schools serve as important environments for making the critical connection between education and health. HSC believes that students can learn and thrive in a school environment that emphasizes healthy eating and physical activity. Significant and sustainable change happens when informed and engaged stakeholders including families, teachers, staff, students and communities, work in collaboration to affect meaningful policies and programs to transform school environments everywhere.

HSC's programs fall into three categories: promoting school environmental health, improving wellness through improvements to the school food environment and advocating for physical activity, and school stakeholders engagement. I. Healthy School Environments. One of HSC's goals is to ensure that all students, teachers and staff learn and work in school buildings that are environmentally healthy and in good condition. To that end, HSC advocates for healthy and high performing school design and construction, and promotes environmentally friendly green cleaning in schools. HSC is also working with the Chicago Public Schools to coordinate the stakeholder engagement component of the district's Environmental Action Plan. II. School Wellness. Since diet and physical activity influence a student's potential for learning and health, HSC works to ensure that schools provide optimal nutrition, education and access to physical activity to support academic achievement. School-based programs that reinforce physical activity and nutrition education by offering healthy foods in a supportive environment play an important role in promoting lifelong healthy eating. HSC's programs that support this goal include its newly launched Go for the Gold initiative; promoting the development and implementation of school wellness plans; convening the Chicago Partnership for Healthy Schools, a multi-level partnership that brings together parents, community organizations, school nurses, teachers, principals, charter schools, teachers, administrators, not-for-profits and others to create innovative school based programs that focus on parent involvement, physical activity, nutrition education and transforming school food programs; and promotion of programs that bring local fresh produce to school cafeterias. III. Building Strong Stakeholder Support. HSC serves as a community leader to facilitate partnerships based on collaboration, communication, and public-private partnerships. Initiatives aimed at involving specific constituents include: the School Nurse Leadership Project, which provides mentoring and leadership training to school nurses to help them promote healthy school environments; Parents United for Healthy Schools, which provides training and outreach to hundreds of Chicago parents in partnership with community based organizations; and other programs that engage students, school administrators, teachers, and others. Cooking up Change, is a healthy cooking contest that engages Chicago Public Schools culinary high school students (and is now national) and helps spread the message about healthy school food. The winning team travels to the White House, meets with Congress, and has its meal served to members of the U.S. House of Representatives. This event is paired with an HSC Congressional briefing and meetings with the USDA.