2024 Annual Report
What Gives Us Hope:
20 Years of Shared Impact for Kids’ Health
Everything we’ve achieved together in the last 20 years gives us lessons that we can carry forward.
Read the letter from Jamie Bussel Close the letter
Dear Friends,
It’s been a generation since the U.S. surgeon general issued a call to action to prevent and decrease obesity. And for nearly 20 years, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has been working alongside grantees, partners, and allies on this issue to address the root causes of childhood obesity and help all children grow up healthy.
What have we achieved together? How are children and families benefiting? What have we learned?
This report helps to answer these questions. It looks back at nearly two decades of collective work, including changes to federal nutrition policies that affect millions of children and major investments that impact communities nationwide and across our home state of New Jersey.
This year’s report also highlights current projects and features local leaders who are promoting homegrown solutions that build on their communities’ strengths to confront the challenges they face. We also hear from researchers and activists who are using new approaches to advance racial equity, including by measuring assets, instead of just analyzing deficits.
As I look back over the history of our commitment to address childhood obesity, I’m so heartened by all this work. What we have explored, accomplished, and learned together is being carried forward to help every child, family, and community thrive.
Looking ahead, we will announce our final round of grantees in early 2025, representing our last significant investment dedicated to addressing childhood obesity.
Our work on this issue has always centered on reshaping policies and systems to create a world where health is truly for everyone. And as I reflect on our political climate today, it’s clear that efforts like this are more important than ever.
At RWJF we believe health is a shared responsibility within our society and that it will take leaders at all levels to achieve health equity. We can work together to rebuild our systems and policies so they support health for all of us, not just a few.
I am grateful to all the experts, leaders, and advocates who contributed to this year’s report and excited for the opportunities ahead to build the future we all want for our children and grandchildren.
As always, we welcome your feedback. Please share your thoughts with us at [email protected].
Thank you.
In partnership,
Senior Program Officer and Childhood Obesity Lead
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
We all want children to grow up healthy, and when policies prioritize health and equity, millions of children benefit. Over the last two decades, researchers and advocates have helped strengthen and modernize key federal, state and local policies that shape how children and families access and afford healthy food. These efforts are working.
U.S. Surgeon General issues Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity
RWJF commits $500 million to reversing the childhood obesity epidemic
The WIC food package was updated to better align with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans
Congress passes Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, laying the groundwork to update nutrition standards for school meals and snacks
RWJF commits additional $500 million to reduce disparities, advance health equity, and focus on hardest-hit populations
Menu labeling requirements in chain restaurants take effect nationwide
Studies show school meals are healthier and nearly all schools are meeting the updated standards
Updated Nutrition Facts panel goes into effect
School meals are provided to every student free of charge to help feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic
Updates to SNAP, including revisions to the Thrifty Food Plan, go into effect, leading to an increase in benefits for participants
White House hosts 1st Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health in 50 years and releases a national strategy
USDA proposes further updates to promote nutrition and equity in WIC
USDA proposes permanent updates to school meal standards, and eight states enact universal school meals. Sun Bucks—a summer program providing free meals to students over the summer—rolls out to participating states.
The proposed updates to the WIC food package go into effect
U.S. Surgeon General issues Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity
RWJF commits $500 million to reversing the childhood obesity epidemic
The WIC food package was updated to better align with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans
Congress passes Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, laying the groundwork to update nutrition standards for school meals and snacks
RWJF commits additional $500 million to reduce disparities, advance health equity, and focus on hardest-hit populations
Menu labeling requirements in chain restaurants take effect nationwide
Studies show school meals are healthier and nearly all schools are meeting the updated standards
Updated Nutrition Facts panel goes into effect
School meals are provided to every student free of charge to help feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic
Updates to SNAP, including revisions to the Thrifty Food Plan, go into effect, leading to an increase in benefits for participants
White House hosts 1st Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health in 50 years and releases a national strategy
USDA proposes further updates to promote nutrition and equity in WIC
USDA proposes permanent updates to school meal standards, and eight states enact universal school meals. Sun Bucks—a summer program providing free meals to students over the summer—rolls out to participating states.
The proposed updates to the WIC food package go into effect
Meaningful changes to create healthier communities can only happen when people who have been harmed, excluded, or marginalized have the space and resources to build solutions. Solutions that promote health, belonging, and economic inclusion for all must come from community-led transformation.
Statewide
City Green
RWJBarnabas Health Foundation
Atlantic City
Communities Revolutionizing Open Public Spaces
Morris County
nourish.NJ
Passaic County
CUMAC
Newark
North Ward Farm
South Ward Farm
Many of the policies and systems that shape our lives were intentionally designed to exclude or harm people of color and people with low incomes. To break down these barriers to health and well-being, we need data that is more reflective of our national population and evidence-based strategies for advancing racial equity.
Together we can redesign the systems that currently limit opportunities to be healthy and create new ones that promote inclusion, support health and heal our communities one neighborhood at a time.
