White House Hunger Conference: KinderCare Announces Bold Plan to Increase Access and Affordability to Healthy Food for All Children

KinderCare joins Partnership for a Healthier America and others in effort to increase children’s access to fruits and vegetables

LAKE OSWEGO, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In support of today’s White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, KinderCare Learning Companies today announced its plan to help increase access and affordability to vegetables and fruits for all children nationwide. KinderCare is collaborating with its longstanding partner, Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), and the CDC Foundation. The organizations will work together to provide children and their families with the resources they need to access healthy foods they need to live well.

“As a leader in early childhood education and care, we at KinderCare have had a longstanding commitment to supporting children's health and wellness. We believe it's our responsibility to set the standard for the entire child care sector,” said Tom Wyatt, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of KinderCare. “We’re proud of our continued partnership with the PHA and to be a part of today’s event. We’re honored to join the CDC Foundation and the White House in helping children and their families get access to healthy and nutritious foods they need to live well and develop healthy eating habits.”

KinderCare’s commitment is focused on three key areas, including improving healthy food access and affordability, better integration of nutrition and health into children and families’ daily lives and empowering all consumers to make and have access to healthy choices.

As part of this partnership with PHA, the CDC Foundation, and the White House, KinderCare will:

• Develop a new food delivery model with the goal of doubling servings of vegetables to over 40,000 school-age children by 2025;
• Improve the affordability of fruits and vegetables for other early childhood education providers;
• Develop and pilot an innovative food insecurity screening tool and help families increase access to nutritious foods in their communities, and
• Invest in a model for providing nutrition education information to families with the goal of reaching more than 100,000 families of children a minimum of 3 times per year.

For more information on KinderCare’s commitment to children’s health and nutrition, please visit: https://www.kindercare.com/our-centers/inside-kindercare-centers/food-and-nutrition.

About KinderCare Learning Companies®

A leading provider early childhood and school-age education and care, KinderCare builds confidence for life in children and families from all backgrounds. KinderCare supports hardworking families in 40 states and the District of Columbia with differentiated flexible child care solutions to meet today’s dynamic work environment:

• In neighborhoods, with KinderCare® Learning Centers that offer early learning programs for children six weeks to 12 years old;
• At work, through KinderCare Education at Work™, providing customized family benefits for employers across the country, including employer-supported child care benefits, on-site and near-site early learning centers and back-up care for last-minute child care, and
• In local schools, with Champions® before and after-school programs.

KinderCare programs meet the highest standards, validated by independent, third-party evaluation including:

• Gallup, measuring workforce engagement,
• National Association for the Education of Young Children, ensuring individual early learning center quality,
• Cognia, accreditation for before- and after-school programs
• BRIGANCE® and TerraNova® assessments of children’s academic progress and achievement, and
• WELL Health-Safety Rating™, validating health and safety practices in our facilities.

Headquartered in Lake Oswego, Oregon, KinderCare operates more than 2,000 early learning centers and sites. In 2022, KinderCare earned its sixth Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award – one of only four organizations worldwide to achieve this milestone for six consecutive years. To learn more, visit KC-Learning.com.