South Dakota Children and the Food/Nutrition Landscape

What is a touchpoint?

A child’s brain undergoes rapid development during the first three years of life, making this period crucial for their overall growth. Each new brain connection formed during this time has been referred to as a “touchpoint,” which is why we named our informational webinar series after this important milestone in a child’s development. Through these hour-long, interactive webinars, our goal is to help you create your own touchpoints across South Dakota, contributing to the healthy development of all the state’s children.

South Dakota Children and the Food/Nutrition Landscape

This presentation will provide an overview of how hunger and food or nutrition insecurity affect young children and families across our state. It will also highlight opportunities to better support South Dakota children’s health and well-being through nutrition.

Learning Objectives:

• As a result of attending, participants should expect to be able to
• Explain how hunger and food or nutrition insecurity can affect young children’s health, development, and well-being.
• Identify community, family, and system-level factors that shape access to healthy, affordable, and culturally appropriate food in South Dakota.
• Discuss opportunities for collaboration, policy, and practice changes that can better support nutrition security for young children and families.

Presenter: Jennifer Noll Folliard, MPH, RDN 

Jennifer Noll Folliard is the founder and principal consultant at Health + Nutrition First and the contracted facilitator of the South Dakota Healthy Nutrition Collaborative, which brings a collective voice to support access to nutritious food. She is a registered dietitian with expertise in public health systems and policies. Jenn received her Bachelor of Science in human nutrition and food/nutrition in business from Purdue University and her Master of Public Health, focused on public health policy and systems of care, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In her previous position as the Maternal Child Health Director for the South Dakota Department of Health, Jenn worked with multi-sector partners to develop and advance priorities that would improve the health of South Dakota families. Before moving to South Dakota, she worked in Washington, D.C., for ten years, conducting state and federal policy research and advocating for these policies to build effective public health systems. 

CEUs: SD Board of Social Work Examiners This organization (University of South Dakota – Provider #1048) is approved as a provider for continuing education by the South Dakota Board of Social Work Examiners. Social workers will receive up to 1.0 Continuing Education clock hours for participating in this course.