Two years after launching a $5 million, five-year initiative aimed at improving nutrition in schools, Campbell Soup Co. is making even more progress to ensure students are well nourished and ready to thrive — both in the classroom and outside of it.

Full Futures – which seeks to advance the health of families in communities where the soup and snack giant has operations – was expanded during the 2022-23 school year across its hometown of Camden, and introduced in Charlotte, N.C., where the company’s bakery is located.

Altogether, Campbell, in partnership with the two public school districts as well as several nonprofit and corporate entities, reached 8,600 students across nine pilot schools in the two cities through a variety of ways and community-wide efforts.

In a newly released study highlighting the progress, Kate Barrett, director of community affairs and president of Campbell Soup Foundation, and Kathy Higgins, chief executive officer at Alliance for a Healthier Generation, said, “Our second program year of Full Futures has been all about partnership, collaboration and learning. There is so much to celebrate and build upon, and still much to learn. Full Futures is truly a collective of partners coming together to support each other and execute mutually reinforcing activities to achieve our common goal.”

“We can’t emphasize enough that this work would not be possible without all our dedicated partners who are committed to investing in and serving their communities. We are especially grateful to our district partners, who work tirelessly to uplift and support students every day,” they added.

With children consuming more than half of their daily calories at school, Campbell and its partners believe districts across the country are in a unique position to provide students with opportunities to learn about and practice healthy eating habits.

That’s why with Full Futures, its signature community affairs program, Campbell intends to develop a blueprint that can become a customized model for all school districts. According to the company, the program focuses on four key pillars, all of which have specific and measurable goals:

• School nutrition mindset: Updating the district’s Wellness Policy, expanding access to school meals beyond lunch and building nutrition concepts into the core curriculum.
• Food service infrastructure: Updating school cafeteria equipment and training staff in new methods of food preparation.
• Nutrition education: Offering cafeteria tastings where students can share their preferences, providing lessons in school gardens about how to grow food, and teaching culinary classes to families and caregivers.
• Procurement and menu change: Helping the district source local, fresh produce and developing student-centered, culturally inclusive school menus.

 

Get cooking

Officially rolled out in Camden City Schools during the 2021-22 school year, Full Futures continued close collaboration with the district’s school nutrition team and six partners: Food Bank of South Jersey, Wellness in the Schools, The Common Market, Whitsons Culinary Group, Center for Family Services and New Jersey American Water.

During the 2022-23 school year, more than 7,000 students benefitted from Full Futures programming and activities, such as a local food procurement incentive pilot, training and support for cafeteria staff, and student input in menu design.

Altogether, the Food Bank of South Jersey hosted 58 Full Futures-associated nutrition education lessons in schools – virtually and throughout the community – reaching over 600 people.

The programs included a series of interactive cooking classes for children, teens and families in which they learn about dietary guidelines, prepare food in class and are given ingredients to replicate recipes at home. The food bank also presented the Two Bite Club, in which young kids are introduced to new healthy food items and encouraged to take “two bites.”

Additionally, the program brought 4th graders from Camden to Campbell’s headquarters once a week for six weeks for lessons on cooking healthy meals. Students also received ingredients so they could prepare those recipes at home with their families. According to Campbell, the program quickly became a favorite, with 86% of kids saying they have a better understanding of how to eat more nutritiously and 83% cooking a recipe they learned in class at home.

Wellness in the Schools (WITS), a New York organization focused on healthy eating and fitness for kids, led professional development and culinary training opportunities for 150 food service workers and district staff in Camden, teaching them new skills, culturally relevant recipes, and how to use local and seasonal items.

As part of a farm-to-school pilot, the district received $90,000 from Full Futures as an incentive to procure weekly deliveries of locally sourced produce from Philadelphia-based nonprofit regional wholesale food distributor The Common Market and its farm partners.

The initiative resulted in 105,000 pounds of fresh, local food to schools and $180,000 reinvested back into the local economy — with 77% of those incentive dollars spent in New Jersey. Of the 23 local farms supported through the pilot, 57% are in the Garden State, Campbell said.

The 31 unique food items brought through the program included a dozen ingredients new to the district, such as basil, beef, beets, blackberries, cranberries, eggs, mushrooms, parsnips, pears, pumpkins, radishes and Swiss chard.

Thanks to the increased access to fresh, wholesome foods, the district and its food service management company, Whitsons Culinary Group, worked with Wellness in the Schools to develop eight new recipes that feature local items, are vegan or vegetarian, and culturally relevant to Camden students.

Mushroom pasta and sautéed mushrooms wound up being the biggest hits with students, prompting Campbell to add the vegetable in free produce boxes distributed to community members.

Other efforts

Another key part of Full Futures involved community outreach, according to Campbell.

In Camden, the Center for Family Services worked with partners to update a food access map, highlighting meals and food distribution sites locally. Available in both English and Spanish, the map was one of many bilingual promotional materials created in Year Two that improved information about food resources in the city.

 

Over the summer months, the school district teamed up with The Common Market to distribute 1,200 free produce boxes filled with local fruits and vegetables – such as blueberries, summer squash, dark leafy greens, asparagus, radishes, watermelon and mushrooms – in Camden.

Also new for Year Two was a Local Foods & Sustainability Festival on Earth Day. Hosted by the school district with support from Full Futures partners, the free farmers market enabled families to take home locally grown produce. According to Campbell, farmers markets will be “a key strategy” in Year Three to support food access.

Additionally, Full Futures connected with middle- and high-school age students through the Camden Youth Advisory Council, a teen-led group that provides a platform for kids to learn about, advocate for and implement initiatives to create a healthier community.

Members were given the opportunity to learn about nutrition as well as culinary and agricultural careers through field trips to Campbell’s headquarters, the Food Bank of South Jersey and two local farms. They also participated in tastings and provided feedback to inform the school menu, volunteered at the Local Foods and Sustainability Festival, and took part in a “Golden Spatula Competition” hosted by Campbell’s chef Gerald Drummond.

Another noteworthy contribution to Full Futures came from the American Water Charitable Foundation and New Jersey American Water. The Camden-headquartered entities replaced outdated water fountains in 18 schools and distributed more than 5,500 reusable water bottles with educational flyers, encouraging students and staff to use the new stations.

Commenting on Year Two’s progress, Arlethia Brown, senior director of school nutrition at Camden City School District, said, “This collaboration brings us valuable resources and support, thanks to the dedication of industry leaders and passionate individuals who are committed to supporting our school community.”

“Growing initiatives and implementing positive changes can be challenging, but having supportive partners can make all the difference. We are fortunate to have partners who are willing to support and uplift initiatives,” Brown said. “Together, we can make a significant impact and create a better future for our school community.”

A hearty welcome

After launching its second Full Futures project site during the 2022-23 school year in partnership with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Campbell said more than 1,600 students were reached.

Campbell, in collaboration with the district’s career and technical education and two community partners (100 Gardens and The Bulb), worked to embed more nutrition and farm-to-table concepts into culinary and agriculture career pathways for students.

As part of that goal, aquaponics and hydroponics systems – two of the most sustainable food-growing systems – were installed at four schools (Merry Oaks Elementary, Eastway Middle, Independence High School and Garinger High School). Twenty-three teachers were taught about their basic functions, as well as shown how to integrate them into lesson plans during a summer professional development course, according to Campbell.

So far, CMS culinary students have used some of the food grown via these systems, while teens enrolled in agriculture and business marketing classes have used the systems as part of their classwork.

Full Futures also sought to get students of all ages better acquainted with fresh food and introduce nutrition education at school. In the coming year, 100 Gardens, a nonprofit that teaches kids aquaponics, plans to develop an education portal that will provide school standard-aligned lesson plans for K-12 science and math, according to Campbell.

Connecting with the community was also a priority for Year One, with Full Futures hosting a Family Nutrition Night. Designed to showcase nutrition and farm-to-table concepts, the evening included cooking demonstrations with CTE culinary students, food samples, lessons on aquaponics and information about culinary career pathways. Families in attendance also received free fresh produce

Over the next year, Campbell plans to work with the Camden school district to further nutrition education programming, food service staff professional development and training, and fresh produce procurement programs. The company also pledged to do even more engagement with the community.

In Charlotte, Campbell expects to expand Full Futures to include nutrition education at mobile food markets, agriculture student internships and continued aquaponics curriculum development.

Other goals for Year Three include: exploring and planning for the launch of additional Full Futures program sites in other Campbell’s communities and developing a roadmap that will enable others to start such programs in their own communities.