If your state senator is on the Senate Education Committee, you will also have the opportunity to tell him/her to vote YES on the senate bill if it comes up for a vote in the Senate Education Committee.

This minutes-per-week policy will bring Illinois into alignment with national best practices recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and SHAPE America. A minutes-per-week requirement provides flexibility to local districts to plan and schedule P.E. while ensuring students get the recommended amount of P.E. per week. P.E. helps with student academic performance, student behavior, and student health.

On the Food Access front, House Bill 4568  and Senate Bill 2588 could serve to strike the end-date of the Healthy Local Foods Incentive Fund program.

The Healthy Local Food Incentives Fund established a double-value coupon incentive program for SNAP recipients in the State of Illinois. Studies have shown that providing financial incentives to SNAP participants to purchase fruits and vegetables at farmers markets helps to increase fruit and vegetable consumption of those participants. Additionally, each dollar spent at a farmers market can generate $1.80 for the community's economy, creating stimulus for local healthy food providers.  

Last year, CLOCC and many of our partners successfully advocated for the passage of the Healthy Local Foods Incentive Fund, however the appropriation for the fund was not made in the Fiscal Year 2018 budget. 

Food access advocates are now seeking the appropriation, and also moving to strike the end-date of the program (currently set to expire June, 2019) to allow time for full implementation.

To help move this legislation forward, have your organization sign-on in support of the bill by adding its name to the Healthy Local Food Incentives Fund fact sheet. To add your name to the list, please email Sarah Chusid at the IPHI.