Celebrate National Nutrition Month with MyPlate!

Celebrate National Nutrition Month by getting started on Goal II: MyPlate, Your Place! Developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, MyPlate is a powerful visual reminder to choose healthier foods for building our plates at meal times and to choose healthier choices among the food groups.

As a local elected official or city staff member, you can provide information and tools to support healthy eating and make healthy options affordable and accessible in your city, town or county. Easy-to-understand nutrition information, like MyPlate, at the point of purchase can help your employees, residents and visitors make healthy food choices.

Ready to achieve bronze, silver and gold medals in Goal II? Follow the steps below:

1. Become a MyPlate Community Partner and receive free information and materials about MyPlate.  Sign up here: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/partnering-program.html.

2. Identify all municipally- or county-owned or operated venues that offer or sell food/beverages in your city, town, or county.  These venues may include cafeterias, vending machines, concession stands, parks and recreation facilities, libraries, department of motor vehicles, police departments or fire stations, public medical facilities/clinics, or areas served by food distribution programs.

3. Download or request MyPlate materials for all municipally- or county-owned or operated venues that offer or sell food/beverages.

• MyPlate graphic resources:  http://www.choosemyplate.gov/print-materials-ordering/graphic-resources.html
• MyPlate materials for download:  http://www.choosemyplate.gov/print-materials-ordering.html
• Request MyPlate materials from your HHS Let’s Move! Advisor.

4. Disseminate MyPlate materials to all municipally- or county-owned or operated venues that offer or sell food/beverages.

5. Confirm that MyPlate is prominently displayed.

Report your progress by updating your Let’s Move! Cities, Towns and Counties (LMCTC) survey. This information is used to determine whether you are eligible to receive a medal. If you have misplaced your survey link, send an email to lmctc@nlc.org to request the link.

To earn bronze, silver and gold medals in Goal II, at least 51%, 75% and 100%, respectively, of your municipally-or county-owned or operated venues that offer or sell food/beverages must prominently display MyPlate AND the LMCTC site must be registered to be a MyPlate Community Partner.

How are cities, towns and counties promoting MyPlate?

• In Beaumont, Texas Councilman Alan B. Coleman and local partners identified all vending machines on city property and affixed MyPlate posters to all of these vending machines. The city has even gone beyond the gold benchmark in its promotion of MyPlate! MyPlate is displayed at local events, and the city’s public health department installed several roadside billboards that displayed MyPlate.
• In Virginia Beach, Va. the Virginia Beach Department of Parks and Recreation displays MyPlate within it’s out-of-school time programs, including 56 programs for elementary school students, five recreation center programs and seven early childhood sites. The Virginia Beach Public Schools also display MyPlate throughout 83 elementary, middle and high schools. MyPlate is also promoted at city events and as part of the Virginia Beach Mayor’s Action Challenge for Children and Families. As a next step, the City of Virginia Beach plans to reach out to facilities within the city that have public-private partnerships and serve food to encourage their venues to promote MyPlate.