Announcements

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is seeking sponsors for the 2021 Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). The program, operated by local organizations around the state, provides meals to students over the summer when they do not have access to school meals. Eligible sponsors will operate a nonprofit meal program during the summer for youth aged 18 and younger. Once approved, all children—regardless of family income level—can receive a free meal at a meal site.

This federally funded program may be sponsored by the following organizations:

• Public and private nonprofit schools,
• Residential and non-residential summer camps,
• Nonprofit organizations,
• Tribal organizations,
• Units of local, county, municipal, and state government, and
• Colleges and universities that participate in the Upward Bound Program.

Meal sites must be located in areas where at least 50% of the children qualify for free or reduced-price school meals or where at least 50% of the children enrolled in a specific program are eligible for free and reduced-price school meals.

To mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a Nationwide Area Eligibility Waiver for SFSP sites to operate in areas that do not meet the free and reduced-price eligibility requirement until June 30, 2021.

Meals must meet USDA meal pattern requirements. Sponsors may prepare their own meals or purchase them from a school district or food service management company. Sponsors are reimbursed for eligible meals served.

Each site may serve each child up to two meals per day. Sites serving primarily migrant children and residential camp sites may serve each child up to three meal types per day.

Information regarding training for new sponsors interested in participating during summer 2021 will be released soon. Applications will be available mid-spring.

Institutions may apply for the program or get more information by emailing communitynutrition@k12.wa.us, or by mailing Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, P.O. Box 47200, Olympia, Washington 98504–7200.

The newly launching WA Tobacco Coalition & Partnership Initiative is seeking a consultant with expertise helping organizations design structures and processes that center and support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Experience developing or working with diverse coalitions is desirable.

Our diversity and inclusion goals are to engage tobacco prevention stakeholders in creating or expanding statewide partnerships that are multidisciplinary and sociodemographically diverse. Central to this initiative is inclusion of representatives of the communities across our state that are disproportionately impacted by commercial tobacco use, which are African Americans, American Indian/Alaskan Natives, Asian Pacific Islanders, Latinx, LGBTQ, low socioeconomic status, and rural communities.

The Initiative is newly launched in January 2021 with ongoing work planned through 2025. The Initiative’s goal is to work with Washington’s tobacco prevention stakeholders to develop statewide member-driven partnership structures to prevent youth tobacco use, reduce nicotine dependence, and eliminate health inequities from commercial tobacco use. Our goals for new or expanded partnerships are to engage stakeholders more inclusively, increase transparency, improve decision-making, and better achieve tobacco prevention policy and programmatic goals. The project is funded through a contract with the Commercial Tobacco Control Program (CTPP) of the Washington State Department of Health. 

Sub-contractor Position, Timeframe, and Compensation:

The DEI consultant will work on the Initiative as a sub-contractor to Margaret Shield of Community Environmental Health Strategies who has a contract for this project from the CTPP. The initial contract period is through the end of April 2021, with potential for CTPP to extend the contract for up to four additional one-year periods.

The timeframe for the DEI consultant’s work during the initial contract period is late February – April 2021.

The compensation range is $7-9,000 based on an estimated 30-40 hours of consulting work. Compensation will depend on the final scope of work that is developed and implemented. An invoice process that is compatible with requirements of the CTPP contract will be agreed upon for payments to the DEI consultant.

The DEI consultant’s Scope of Work will include:

• participating in planning meetings to help shape agendas and discussions of a Planning Group that is representative of the tobacco prevention stakeholders the initiative seeks to engage.
• participating as an advisor in three Planning Group sessions from mid-March to mid-April and participating in small group sessions if needed,
• advising and assisting Planning Group members in designing their group agreements and laying the foundation for development of partnerships with member recruitment plans, operational structures, decision-making processes, and other participatory systems that center and support diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• providing recommendations at the end of the initial Planning Group process for the next stages of Coalition and/or partnership development.

DEI consultants who want to be considered for this position are encouraged to send an email describing their interest and summarizing their qualifications and relevant experience. An informal interview process will be conducted during February with selected candidates. Inquiries for more information are welcomed.

Please contact:
Margaret Shield, Initiative Organizer
Community Environmental Health Strategies LLC
margaret.shield@cehstrategies.com
206-499-5452
www.cehstrategies.com

On November 21, Washington’s Safe Medication Return program launched. This program gives Washington residents convenient and environmentally responsible ways to dispose of unwanted and expired medications. Find your nearest drop box to return medications in person or request a free pre-paid, pre-addressed envelope and return medications without ever leaving your home.

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