Josephine Martin: leader in child nutrition - Georgia school food service

Food and Nutrition, July, 1984 by Kent Taylor

Josephine Martin: Leader in Child Nutrition

Josephine Martin has been a leader and innovator in school food service for more than 30 years. She has inspired and encouraged others to make school nutrition programs part of the education process that can, as she puts it, help children "eat for life.'

Presently, Martin is the director of the Local Systems Support Division of the Georgia Department of Education, which has responsibility for several child nutrition programs, including school lunch, school breakfast, and the Child Care Food Program.

Her division also has responsibility for the Nutrition Education and Training Program (NET), donated foods, and a number of nonfood school programs, such as school statistical information and the state textbook programs. Modestly, she credits the success of these programs to a strong staff of administrators, consultants, and coworkers who have helped her along the way.

Has seen programs grow and change

Martin began her school food service career in the early 1950's. She completed a dietetic internship at Duke University after graduation from the University of Georgia.

She had planned to enter hospital dietetics when the Georgia Department of Education offered her a job working with the school lunch program. She found that she "really preferred working in the wellness rather than the sickness side of food service' and committed herself to helping children develop good food habits.

When Martin first came to work in the state, the National School Lunch Program was the only USDA school food program. It was the nation's first official recognition that the health and well-being of children was a matter of national concern. Since then, she has seen the program grow in every direction, and she has been involved in the development of companion programs such as the School Breakfast Program, the Child Care Food Program, NET, and the Special Milk Program.

Martin explains that the major difference in today's school lunch program from the 1950's is one of logistics rather than philosophy. "The philosophy behind the school lunch program was to establish an effective nutrition program for children. Our goal has remained the same--how we arrive at achieving it has changed.

"Because of limited funding in the early years, we could not reach as many low-income children or provide the variety of foods we do now. Many schools had a couple of meatless menus a week and there was more cooking from scratch because fewer processed or pre-prepared items were available,' Martin says.

Today schools offer salad bars, different entrees, and a nutritious variety of foods at low cost due to improved management and effective procurement methods.

In the 1950's, most state departments of education conducted comprehensive training programs on a statewide basis. "Today the trend is to tailor training to meet individual needs. We are reaching more people with modern techniques, and food service professionals are learning to communicate better with students, parents, teachers, and co-workers,' Martin says.

Another big difference in today's food service programs is the availability of computers to perform many food service functions. But Martin does not feel there was less accountability with manual recordkeeping. "Our procedures are a lot more sophisticated now,' she says, "but the Southeast Region of USDA always advocated complete accountability of funds and products.'

Was a leader from the start

After working for the state for 8 years in the 1950's, Martin went to Columbia University Teachers' College and in 1959 received her masters degree in home economics education. She returned to the school nutrition programs, this time working for the federal government.

She credits Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) official Martin Garber for convincing her to stay in school nutrition. "He had such enthusiasm for the school nutrition programs and helped me see what could be done to solve hunger and social problems,' she says.

Martin worked from 1959 to 1961 as a Southeast area home economist in the AMS Food Distribution Section, a division of USDA that would eventually become the Food and Nutrition Service. She worked with school nutrition programs in nine Southeastern states, assisting in administrative reviews, developing training programs, teaching workshops for school personnel and providing technical help to state agencies. She also conducted many workshops for private schools.

"The chance to work at USDA gave me a much broader insight into the federal role of nutrition and allowed me to observe programs in other states,' Martin says. At the end of her first year, she had the highest travel record of anyone in the region.

In the mid 1960's, Martin saw the need for more permanent, direct appropriations and worked with other Southeastern state directors in support of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966.

This act established the School Breakfast Program, provided assistance for purchase of food equipment, and established state administrative expense reimbursement. It was later amended to include the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the Nutrition Education and Training Program (NET).