The ASPHN Board of Directors met on July 12, 2024.
- Membership applications approved in July 2024:
- Six (6) General members: Lexi Cournoyer, Amanda Middaugh, Tracie Pernu and Danika Schweim (MN); Becky Kuykendall (MO); and Leah Price (SC).
- Thirteen (13) Associate members, including nine (9) students/emerging professionals: Jones Ampadu Adjei and Amber Johnson (CA); Julie Griffith and Janet Mejia (CO); Eleanor Simon (LA); Ahmani Marshall, Amanda Pearson, Amanda Stephens and Sharon Wallace (NC); Carrie Thielen (NM); Navid Nickpour (RI); Jackie French (TN); and Nicole Crane (VT).
- Motion to approve up to $30,000 of unrestricted funds to spend on consultant time for committee and council support in August and September 2024 passed unanimously.
- Policy Committee actions have been taken on behalf of ASPHN:
- Signed on to the CSPI organizational sign-on letter urging HHS Secretary Becerra to issue a departmental directive to require all food service operations in HHS facilities to meet the Food Service Guidelines for Federal Facilities. ASPHN signed on to a related letter last year.
- Signed on in support of NDD United’s (non-defense discretionary funds) organizational sign-on letter calling on Congress to reject arbitrary funding levels for NDD appropriations in fiscal year 2025 and instead fund NDD at a level that recognizes both rising costs and the need for investment in programs important to fostering economic growth and meeting human needs, and keeps poison pill riders out of the package.
- Signed on to the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee’s letter urging Congress to prioritize breastfeeding and human milk feeding in the federal budget.
- Signed on with other national, state, and community-based organizations to the Food Research & Action Center’s letter to Congress maintaining that any Farm Bill must – at its core – make sure SNAP is protected and strengthened. The letter also expresses opposition to any Farm Bill which proposes cuts to SNAP including restricting future Thrifty Food Plan benefit adjustments – nearly $30 billion in cuts over 10 years.