| Welcome to DCNP |
| What is Durham’s Child Nutrition Project?
|
 Durham’s
Child Nutrition Project (DCNP) recognizes that there is a
strong link between nutrition and learning. Kids who don’t
get enough healthy food to eat are tired, have short
attention spans, and don’t learn well, or may have
difficulty getting along with others. Child hunger increases
the likelihood of poor school performance and /or
behavioural problems. DCNP is the only Region-wide
organization providing support and resources to child
nutrition programs. DCNP fosters parental involvement and
community ownership in all of the programs supported. Since
it began in 1999, DCNP has helped thousands of children /
youth across the Region to access healthy nutritional food
in a warm and caring environment. The project assists Public
and Catholic schools in running Breakfast and Snack Programs
across the Durham Region. It secures funding from several
sources for the nutrition programs and provides necessary
training to the volunteers for running and sustaining the
nutrition programs. DCNP works toward providing safe
environments, free of judgment, in which children and youth
can develop healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime.
Our programs take a universal approach, and serve all
children in the region regardless of socioeconomic status.
DCNP receives funding from Ministry if Children and Youth
Services (Peterborough family resource centre), Regional
Municipality of Durham, Trillium Foundation, Breakfast for
Learning and United Way of Ajax - Pickering - Uxbridge. In
addition, DCNP receives support from local businesses, faith
groups, service clubs, organizations and private donors.
DCNP also works in partnership with Durham Lives!, Oshawa
CARES, Durham Region Health Department and Durham Region
Social Services Department. |
| Mission Statement |
| Feeding the body feeds the mind
which enhances each child’s potential. Our mission is to
ensure that all children in Durham attend school well
nourished and ready to learn. |
| Facts about Child Nutrition in Canada: |
- 31% of elementary school students and 62% of
secondary school students do not start their day with a
nutritious breakfast (Source: Breakfast for Learning)
- 1 in 5 children do not receive the required daily
serving of fruits and vegetables recommended by “Eating
Well Canada's Food Guide” (Source: Breakfast for
Learning)
- 1 in 7 children go hungry in Durham Region
- Children who miss breakfast are compromised with
regards to mathematics and reading ability, later
morning problem-solving tasks and poor behaviour. (Pollitt
1981, Pollitt 1983, Pollitt 1995)
- The prevalence of overweight and obesity in Canadian
children has doubled in the past 20 years. (Source:
Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2000)
- Hungry kids are seven times as likely to have
behavioural problems as not hungry kids. (Albion
Monitor)
|
| Consequences of Child Nutrition
Issues: |
|
The consequences of many
Canadian children’s diets being low in nutritional quality
are
that these children may not reach their developmental
potential. This has ramifications
for the individual child as well as Canadian society in
terms of loss of human capital.
• While good nutrition enhances a child’s ability to learn,
poor nutrition results in
cognitive impairment. A child who is hungry has difficulty
concentrating, is more
easily distracted and may exhibit behavioural problems. A
hungry or undernourished
child cannot take full advantage of education opportunities
and may
disrupt other children from learning as well. The Ontario
Society of Nutrition
Professionals in Public Health’s Call to Action: Creating a
Healthy School
Nutrition Environment - March 2004 says:
Poor nutrition has links to the rise in obesity with all the
attendant physical and
emotional problems, including an increase in Type 2
diabetes, heart disease,
cancer and depression. The rise in obesity is linked to
lower life expectancies.
Currently 25% of children in Canada are overweight and of
those, 9% will be
obese adults. xiii
• Poor nutrition undermines efforts to improve children’s
physical activity levels.
Without proper nutrition, children do not have the energy to
participate fully in
physical activity.
• Poor nutrition may affect a child’s emotional development.
Although little
research has been done in this area as it pertains to middle
childhood, it may be
useful to extrapolate from best practices within the day
care field, where feeding
and mealtimes are planned not only to meet children’s
nutritional needs but as
opportunities to develop emotional attachment with children
in care and to
support children’s emotional development and sense of
community with other
children. |
| Reasons Why Children go to School Hungry: |
|
There are many other factors for
children going to school Hungry besides the poor economic
condition of the family.
• Hurried morning routines are becoming more common
• Children have long bus rides to school
• Lack of parental supervision at mealtime
• Parents leave for work early
• Sometimes kids do not want to eat alone in the morning
• All three food groups might not be included in breakfast |
| Objectives of DCNP: |
|
• To establish culturally
diverse universal healthy breakfast and healthy snack
programs in Durham Region
• Increase Community support and Volunteerism
• Encourage sponsorship for each nutrition program
• Create an awareness campaign on importance of child
nutrition and educate children to make healthy eating
choices
• Secure funding for nutrition programs in Durham Region
schools |
| What is a Nutrition Program: |
|
A nutrition program consists of
a healthy breakfast or healthy snack (a.m. / p.m.) |
| |
