Childhood Hunger’s Direct Link to Childhood Obesity

Webinar Description

Childhood hunger existed before the COVID-19 pandemic and has become exacerbated since. While simultaneously, childhood obesity is also on the rise. How can both be happening at the same time and in the same communities? Similar to other food insecurities, racial and income disparities occur for this phenomenon as well. By understanding the connections between hunger and obesity to each other we can begin to address two problems at the same time and advance more effective policies and programs to unify efforts of solving both problems for youth today.

In this one-hour webinar, you will learn:

• The importance of childhood hunger and obesity by understanding the correlations and causations of the two.
• How to identify existing systems, policies, and environments that could be adapted to address both childhood hunger and obesity.
• To create new best practices when developing future initiatives to solve both childhood hunger and obesity.

Panelists

Kofi D. Essel, MD, MPH, FAAP is a Pediatrician at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Director of The George Washington University School of Medicine Community/Urban Health Scholarly Concentration, and Clinical Public Health Lecturer. Dr. Essel has dedicated his career to advocacy and research around healthcare training, health disparities, and community engagement, with a special interest and national recognition in the areas of addressing obesity and food insecurity in families. He actively works at the intersection of food insecurity, community settings, and health systems to more effectively screen and intervene in clinical settings.

Pamela Taylor is the Senior Vice President for Communications and Marketing for Share our Strength/No Kid Hungry, where she leads all internal and external communications functions for the Share our Strength and its No Kid Hungry campaign. She brings 20 years of experience in developing and leading national initiatives, including behavior-change and public health campaigns for government and private sector clients, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at NIH, US Department of Agriculture, Merck, and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. Pamela was formerly a Senior Director of Strategy at the Partnership for a Healthier America, the non-profit supporting former First Lady, Mrs. Obama’s Let’s Move campaign. She has also served a consultant for many organizations to lead clients through diversity, inclusion and equity strategies; and organizational transformation. A graduate of Hampton University, today Pamela lives in Washington DC.

Beverley Wheeler, EdD became the director of D.C. Hunger Solutions in 2015.  In this role, she is responsible for leading the efforts to improve public policies to end hunger, reduce poverty, promote nutrition and increase the availability of healthy affordable food in low-income areas; maximize participation in all federal nutrition programs (SNAP, school meals, early childhood nutrition, WIC and summer meals); and educate the public about both the stark reality of hunger’s existence in the nation’s capital and the real opportunities for effective solutions.