Food First NL’s Next Steps for School Meals Consultation Process
June 3
5:00 – 7:00pm, and at points during session breaks
Next Steps for School Meals was a province-wide comprehensive consultation about a school lunch program in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Food First NL’s Next Steps for School Meals consultations have taken a comprehensive approach over the last two years, exploring the question “what does an ideal school food program look like for Newfoundland and Labrador?” to provide recommendations for the path forward in the expansion of school meals to all pre-k to grade 12 students in Newfoundland and Labrador.
As part of the consultation process, Food First NL set out to:
• Determine if and how school meals are currently offered in each Pre-K to Grade 12 school in N.L. to better understand the overall school meal landscape;
• Conduct consultations and assess what capacity is required by the schools and food providers in order to offer school meals to all Pre-K to Grade 12 students (e.g. infrastructure, support, training, staffing, etc.); and
• Provide recommendations on how to effectively and equitably expand school meal programs to reach all Pre–K to Grade 12 students in the province.
• Identify opportunities to maximize the value of investments in school food for local economies and communities
Bio:
ASHLEY BYRNE is the School Food Program Coordinator at Food First NL. She has a BA(Hons) in Environmental Studies from Carleton University, an MA in Environmental Education and Communication from Royal Roads University, and is currently on a leave from her PhD in Geography from Western University. During her Masters, Ashley received the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship for her work exploring the role of play-based learning in promoting healthy eating in early childhood. Before working at Food First NL, Ashley worked as a Food Policy Analyst with the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch at Indigenous Services Canada and prior to that she worked as a Research Associate with the Food Policy Lab at Dalhousie University. Through this work Ashley has led and contributed to research and policy on a number of topics including food choices in early childhood, Northern food access, environmental contaminants in food and water, retail food environments, and community food security in rural NL.