PHA Announces New Partners at 2017 Summit Day One

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the Partnership for a Healthier America's (PHA) sixth-annual Building a Healthier Future Summit kicked off with remarks from President Bill Clinton and Tricia Brooks, Vice President, Public Affairs of Novo Nordisk, the 2017 PHA Summit National Sponsor. Throughout the day, PHA, alongside its partners, PepsiCo, the United States Tennis Association (USTA), Mercedes-Benz, the Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing (NACS), Cumberland Farms, the National Confectioners Association (NCA), Feeding America, the San Antonio Food Bank, the Des Moines Area Religious Council, the Atlanta Community Food Bank, and the Capital Area Food Bank, announced commitments to help families as well as food-insecure communities make healthier choices across the country.

PHA works with its honorary chair former First Lady Michelle Obama and the private sector to create solutions to end the childhood obesity crisis. As a demonstration of PHA's reach and scale, in addition to the organizations above, the FNV campaign announced that through collaboration with SNAP-Ed at the state level, FNV will expand into California, Georgia, and Colorado. Three new partners include the California Department of Public Health, University of Georgia SNAP-Ed, and the Colorado Department of Human Services. These partners will invest in FNV advertising, research and evaluation over the coming year. With a media plan valued at more than $4 million, the California Department of Public Health's contribution is the single largest investment in FNV to date.

"The diverse group of companies announcing commitments today are a testament not only to the importance of providing Americans with healthier, more convenient options but also to the importance of the public and private sectors working together to make meaningful strides in ending the childhood obesity crisis," said PHA CEO Lawrence A. Soler. "PHA is honored to partner with new organizations as well as our current partners who are changing the culture around healthy eating and physical activity in communities across the country."

Commitments Announced on Day 1

PepsiCo announces PHA as its official verifier.

• PepsiCo has agreed to utilize PHA's third-party verification process to verify their public announcement made in October 2016. This public announcement set specific calorie and sodium reduction goals to be achieved by 2025.

USTA provides half a million children the opportunity to get active through tennis.

• USTA, the national governing body for the sport of tennis and the recognized leader in promoting and developing the sport's growth on every level in the U.S., is proud to recommit to PHA in supporting healthy kids and communities. They will provide opportunities for at least 500,000 children to get active on the tennis court through their NET Generation initiative, a new approach to making tennis fun and more accessible to all. NET Generation will recruit tennis instructors, coaches, and school providers to register and join the USTA branded platform to gain access to the NET Generation resources and curriculum.

Mercedes-Benz invests in the health of at-risk youth.

• Over the next three years, Mercedes-Benz commits to invest $8.4 million in organizations working to train coaches in sports-based youth development for at-risk youth. This commitment will have a concentration in Atlanta. 

Convenience stores across the country commit to stocking up on healthier options.

• NACS, the association representing the nation's 154,000-plus convenience stores, is teaming up with PHA to ensure that convenience stores across the nation are fully stocked with healthier options. As PHA's first retail-association partner, NACS will make available key resources to its members to help determine how they can carry additional healthier choices, as well as provide promotional materials related to Drink Up, PHA's marketing campaign to encourage water consumption. NACS also will provide healthier catering options at its events, including the NACS Show, one of the 40 largest trade shows in the United States.
• Cumberland Farms, the regional chain of convenience stores that operates approximately 600 retail stores and gas stations in 11 states, has also joined this effort to make healthy eating on the go easier and to provide access to nutritious options in the communities where it operates. The company, which is PHA's largest convenience store partner to date, has committed to offering healthier food in its 700 locations, supporting the affordability of healthier options, marketing and promoting these foods, and supporting the Drink Up Initiative.

Chocolate and candy companies come together to provide healthier choices.

• NCA, the trade organization that represents chocolate, candy, gum and mints, as well as the companies that make these products, has committed to creating more transparent packaging providing healthier choices for consumers and educating consumers about how these products play a role in a happy, balanced lifestyle. NCA is bringing together the leading chocolate and candy companies, including Mars Chocolate North America, Nestlé USA, Ferrara Candy Company, Ferrero, Lindt, Ghirardelli Chocolate, and Russell Stover Chocolates, to commit to voluntarily printing calorie information on the front of products and to making at least half of their single-serving products 200 calories or less.

Food banks commit to provide healthier options to those they serve.

• Feeding America, a nationwide network that includes 200 food banks in addition to 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, and a group of individual food banks, have joined PHA with a commitment to provide healthier options to the food insecure. In addition to Feeding America, PHA received commitments from:
• The San Antonio Food Bank, which provides food and grocery items to 530 partner agencies across Southwest Texas and distributes more than 77 million meals annually,
• The Des Moines Area Religious Food Network, the largest food pantry in Iowa that reaches 42,000 individuals each year,
• The Atlanta Community Food Bank, which distributes over 60 million meals to more than 755,000 people in 29 counties across metro Atlanta and north Georgia, and
• The Capital Area Food Bank, which partners with 444 community organizations in DC, MD, and VA to help 540,000 people each year get access to good, healthy food. Together, these partners will help us reach food insecure families in all 50 states.

Media interested in covering PHA's Building a Healthier Future Summit should register for credentials by visiting ahealthieramerica.org/summit/press. For more information please contact news@ahealthieramerica.org.

The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) is devoted to working with the private sector to ensure the health of our nation's youth by solving the childhood obesity crisis. In 2010, PHA was created in conjunction with—but independent from— former First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! effort. PHA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that is led by some of the nation's most respected health and childhood obesity experts. PHA brings together public, private and nonprofit leaders to broker meaningful commitments and develop strategies to end childhood obesity. Most important, PHA ensures that commitments made are commitments kept by working with unbiased third parties to monitor and and publicly report on the progress our partners are making. For more information about PHA, please visit www.ahealthieramerica.org and follow PHA on Twitter @PHAnews.

CONTACT: Sutton Resler, 202-905-7616

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SOURCE Partnership for a Healthier America