{"id":15863,"date":"2023-06-22T20:20:14","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T20:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/california\/?p=15863"},"modified":"2025-04-30T17:06:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T17:06:59","slug":"spotlight-qcc-reflections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/california\/spotlight-qcc-reflections\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections From the Quad County Collaborative: Three Years of Peer Support and Best Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Reflections From the Quad County Collaborative: Three Years of Peer Support and Best Practices\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>

Today, 1 in 7 kids experiences food insecurity in California. Ending child hunger involves much more than getting food to kids. Through the No Kid Hungry campaign, we work with school districts and community organizations, providing grant funding and technical assistance to ensure that more kids have access to three meals a day. We also support and create spaces that bring together child nutrition leaders who are finding the best ways to feed children.<\/span><\/p>

Every day, school nutrition professionals in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties come to work knowing that they are responsible for feeding a student body of over 2.5 million students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The past three years have created constant and unprecedented challenges for school nutrition services staff. From the early health and safety dangers of the pandemic, to extreme weather conditions, to ever-changing logistics, such as supply chain disruptions, staff shortages, and rising cost of food, school nutrition professionals have had to deal with it all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

To meet the need for peer support and communications at the beginning and throughout the pandemic, school nutrition directors, No Kid Hungry, and public health nutrition leaders from these counties came together to form the School Meals Access Quad County Collaborative (QCC).<\/span><\/p>

After three years of bringing together school nutrition and public health leaders, the QCC has officially concluded its regional quarterly webinar series, an online convening where directors and leaders representing the needs from the four areas can connect to exchange best practices, support and uplift each other.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Through 10 webinars, the QCC brought together guest speakers from schools and organizations across the quad counties to speak on solutions for staff shortages, burn-out, supply chain disruptions, summer meals, Community Eligibility Provision, food recovery, Second Chance Breakfast, inclusivity and partnerships, Kitchen Infrastructure & Training (KIT) Fund strategies, and meal models in back-to-school.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The following are reflections from some of our QCC Steering Committee members and speakers:<\/span><\/p>

\u201cEach training and each speaker has their solutions. The QCC webinars allowed for high levels of collaboration. It\u2019s remarkable how we gave many solutions to many challenges, which enabled us to Serve a greater number of Students.\u201d -Matt Upton, Industry Coach and Chief Encouragement Officer<\/span><\/i><\/p>

\u201cIt has been my utmost privilege in serving on the QCC with all the superstars. I love how we have been able to spotlight great work throughout Southern California and give school districts the opportunity to share and shine. Although I will be retiring this summer, this will be one of the biggest highlights of my career in Public Health.\u201d -Robin Ronkes MPH, RDN, Public Health Nutritionist, San Bernardino County Department of Public Health<\/span><\/i><\/p>

\u201cQCC partnership fostered a sense of solidarity among the participating counties. It showcased the importance of open communication, mutual support, and leveraging each other\u2019s strengths. We learned that by embracing diversity and utilizing the unique perspectives of each partner, we could develop comprehensive strategies to tackle child hunger more effectively.\u201d -Andrea Cuellar, Senior Program Manager with No Kid Hungry<\/span><\/i><\/p>

To the 54 speakers who joined us in our webinar series – for sharing your challenges and strengths, providing crucial updates, inspiring and motivating us during those difficult times, and sharing your best tips and tricks. We thank you!<\/span><\/p>

Riverside County<\/b><\/p>