Our Campaign

Select from the options below to learn more about the programs we work on and our efforts to make Illinois schools healthier places to learn and work.

For more information about these programs, please contact the Healthy Schools Campaign at 312-419-1810.

Environmental Audits - working with students, teachers and community members for greater awareness and understanding of the school environment

Green Cleaning - working with school building engineers to reduce the use of toxic cleaning products in school

Healthy and High Performing Schools - working to improve school construction standards throughout Illinois

Partnership to Reduce Disparities in Asthma and Obesity in Latino Schools - partnering with community organizations, health advocates and universities, through a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grant

Promoting Healthy Eating - working with schools districts, schools, parents and community members to conduct school food assessments

Legislative Advocacy - supporting a range of environmental health issues to improve school environments and support our investment in school infrastructure

Environmental Audits

The Healthy Schools Campaign provides training for school-based environmental health audits in many Chicago Public Schools. With help from the UIC School of Public Health, the Campaign has designed an assessment tool that parents and high school students will utilize while doing an inspection walkthrough of their school. Afterwards, recommendations for environmental health improvements will be made for each school.

For more information about this program, please contact our Deputy Director, Mark Bishop, at (312) 419-1810 or mark@healthyschoolscampaign.org

Green Cleaning

To promote green cleaning in schools, the Healthy Schools Campaign is educating school administrators, teachers, facility managers and parents about the benefits of green cleaning. We have also developed the Quick and Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools, a multimedia how-to guide for school administrators and custodial staff that encourages the use of green products, equipment and practices. Click here to order your copy today »

The Quick and Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools includes the following sections:

1. Why Green Cleaning in Schools?
2. Five Simple Steps to Green Cleaning
3. Institutionalizing Your Green Clean Program
4. Answers to Common Questions About Green Cleaning
5. Real School Examples

The handbook simplifies the green cleaning process while the enclosed CD-Rom contains comprehensive information, practical advice, tools and resources to help schools take action. It also includes a purchasing guide that lists sponsors’ products that meet HSC Green Clean standards.

Cleaning products commonly used by schools and other institutions contain toxic chemicals. Yet many “safer” alternatives are available and school districts across the country as well as other institutions are beginning to adopt “green cleaning” programs. By adopting a green cleaning program, schools can reduce exposure to janitorial staff and students.

This is of particular importance because many janitors are African-American and Latino women of child-bearing age, and because children are more susceptible to environmental exposures that can lead to significant health damages.

HSC is working with school districts to adopt green clean policies and programs. This effort builds on our work with the Chicago Public Schools, which adopted a district wide policy (PDF) to support green cleaning.

A comprehensive green clean policy includes the following elements:

Use of safe and environmentally friendly cleaning products.
Use of equipment that reduces the need for cleaning solutions and promotes healthy indoor air.
Adoption of cleaning procedures that reduce exposure.
Use of recycled paper products
Involvement all school members in promoting a clean and healthy environment.

HSC Green Clean Standards

HSC defines green cleaning programs as those programs that protect health without harming the environment. HSC’s green clean program incorporates the following standards:

• Green Seal’s GS-37 environmental standard for industrial and institutional cleaners.

• Carpet and Rug Institute’s Green Label Program for vacuum cleaners.

• ASTM’s E-1971 Standard Guide on Stewardship for Cleaning Commercial and Institutional Buildings.

For janitorial paper products use the US EPA’s Comprehensive Procurement Guides, Green Seal, Environment Choice or Chlorine Free Products Association. For plastic trash bags use the US EPA’s Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines.

• EPA paper standard

• EPA plastic standard

• Green Seal

• Environmental Choice

• Chlorine Free

For more information about this program, please contact our Executive Director, Rochelle Davis, at (312) 419-1810 or by email.

Healthy and High Performing Schools

High Performing Schools buildings are schools that integrate a wide range of health, environmental, economic and educational goals into the building process from the earliest planning stages to the post-occupancy evaluations and operations. While many local school districts have worked towards healthy and energy efficient design, there has not been a comprehensive approach to more healthy and efficient school building design state-wide.

The Healthy Schools Campaign has partnered with the Illinois Capital Development Board to create a Healthy and High Performing School Building Taskforce. The goal of the taskforce is to identify best practices and develop a school specific guidance document for healthy and energy efficient construction for Illinois schools.

Download the Illinois Resource Guide for Healthy and High Performing Schools »

View Web Resources Available in the Guide by Chapter »

Download a Sample School Board Resolution for Healthy, High Performing Construction »

For more information about our taskforce efforts, contact Mark Bishop at (312) 419-1810 or mark@healthyschoolscampaign.org

Partnership to Reduce Disparities in Asthma and Obesity in Latino Schools

In Chicago, low-income communities of color lead the city in alarming rates of asthma and obesity. In West Town, which has a large Latino population, 28% of children have asthma and 73% of children are overweight or obese. This compares with national averages of 12% for asthma and 26% for overweight or obese.

In order to address these critical issues, the Healthy Schools Campaign, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, West Town Leadership United, Midwest Latino Health Research, Training and Policy Center and Cook County Bureau of Health Services have formed the Partnership to Reduce Disparities in Asthma and Obesity in Latino Schools.

The partnership, made possible through a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health and Sciences, will engage parents and school communities in West Town and Little Village to develop effective community-driven strategies that address the problem of asthma and obesity in school environments.

Read more about the Partnership press conference (November 2004) »

View press conference media coverage »

For more information about this program, please contact Guillermo Gomez at (312) 419-1810 or ggomez@healthyschoolscampaign.org.

Promoting Healthy Eating

The campaign works with schools districts, schools, parents and community members to promote healthy school food environments that are consistent with guidelines developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Guidelines for School Health Programs to Promote Lifelong Healthy Eating.

HSC Recently Released their Quick and Easy Guide to School Wellness. Check it out now!

These guidelines identify seven recommendations to ensure a healthy school food environment, which are grounded in the following principles. School programs that promote lifelong healthy eating are most likely to be effective when they:

Help young people learn skills.
Give students repeated chances to learn to practice healthy eating.
Make nutrition education activities fun and participatory.
Involve the entire school-community in delivering strong, consistent messages about healthy eating as part of a coordinated school health program.
Are part of a coordinated school nutrition policy.

It is from this framework that much of the Campaign’s work at the local and state level has been focused. For general information about promoting healthy eating and the school environment, read our FAQ (PDF).

Ongoing projects in this area are outlined below:

Promoting Local Wellness Policies: By the 2006-2007 school year, school districts across the country are required to have a local wellness policy in place that addresses nutrition guidelines for all foods in schools, goals for nutrition education, physical activity and education, and involve the community’s input in its development. The Campaign is working to raise awareness and provide tools and resources about this important development through our public education campaign, entitled The Student Body Challenge: Making Better Health & Fitness a School Policy, among school and community stakeholders.
Learn more about The Student Body Challenge »
CPS Taskforce to Promote Healthy Eating & Smart Choices: The Healthy Schools Campaign has partnered with Chicago Public School’s (CPS) Food Service Division to build a taskforce comprised of community-based organizations and the CPS community to promote healthy eating and physical activity among CPS students. The taskforce is working to: improve access to school breakfast and after-school programs; promote healthy food choices; and advance health education.
Learn more about the CPS Taskforce »
Farm-to-School Programs: Farm-to-school programs provide an important opportunity to improve the nutritional quality of school food and support local farmers by incorporating fresh tasty produce into school meals to help students develop lifelong healthy eating habits. Combined with nutrition education, farm visits, school gardens, and education in the classroom, farm-to-school programs allow schools to take a comprehensive approach to developing a healthy school food environment.
Learn more about farm-to-school programs »

Legislative Advocacy

Healthy Schools Campaign is working in Springfield to support various legislative initiatives to help improve the indoor and nutritional environment in Illinois schools. This year there is an opportunity to support these healthy policies due to the increased awareness of the needs for schools. HSC encourages individuals to contact their state legislators and ask their positions on legislation that affects school health.