Alliance for a Healthier Generation (AHG) is an advocacy organization that works to create support for healthier school lunches, after-school programs, and other children’s health campaigns. It was founded in 2005 by the American Heart Association and the Clinton Foundation in response to the growing rate of childhood obesity.

Programming

Healthy Schools Program

Alliance for a Healthier Generation runs a Healthy Schools Program in approximately 35,000 schools across America, affecting more than 20 million students. The program receives most of its funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, claiming to target schools in states with the highest obesity rates. ¹

Participating companies may not sell any food containing more than 35 percent of calories from fat, but does not regulate additives, sugar content, artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners. Food sources are also not required to be free of antibiotics, hormones, or pesticides. Fruits and vegetables are not included in AHG’s Smart Snacks Product Calculator. ²

Corporate partners include McDonald’s, Barrel O’Fun, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Slush Puppie, Keurig Dr. Pepper, Domino’s, Tyson Foods, Aryzta, Asian Food Solutions, Bake Crafters, McCain Foods USA, Rich Products Corporation, Tasty Brands, AdvancePierre Foods, and Trident Seafoods. ^{3 4}

The Healthy Schools Program also dictates six steps for improving school health: convening a School Wellness Council, using an inventory for self-assessment, developing an action plan, identifying resources to implement said plan, implementing the plan, and monitoring progress. ⁵

Juvenile Justice

AHG is now piloting a program in select juvenile detention centers in California and Arkansas. The stated mission of this effort is to “inform a national effort to improve access to healthier meals, snacks and quality physical activity for the juvenile justice community.” This program shares the six steps for improving health with the Healthy Schools Program. ⁶

Leadership

Kathy Higgins is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, serving in the position since 2019. Prior to working at AHG, she was the president and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina and the BlueCross NC Foundation. She serves as board chair for the  Carolina Hurricanes Foundation, the Triangle Area YMCA and the Underwood Foundation.  ⁷

William J. Bryant is the board chair for the Alliance for a Healthier Generation (AHG), serving in the position since 2021. He is also listed as a Tax attorney and “of counsel” for the lawfirm Dominick Feld Hyde, P.C of which he was a former shareholder, and is also the board chair for the American Heart Association. ⁸

Chelsea Clinton is the Director Emeritus and Health Champion for the AHG.  She is the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and has served as Vice Chair for the Clinton Foundation since 2011. ⁹ Chelsea Clinton’s work with the foundation includes giving paid speeches throughout the world, with the fees purportedly going directly to the foundation. ¹⁰ Clinton has authored five books for children with left-progressive, feminist, activist, and environmentalist themes. She has also co-authored a book with her mother featuring feminist stories,¹¹ as well as a book with Devi Sridhar concerning global health. ¹²

Nancy Brown is the CEO of the American Heart Association and member on the Board of Directors for the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. She is co-chairman of the Health Governors Community, member of the Board of Stewards of the World Economic Forum, and vice-chairman of the Truth Initiative. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care, Research! America, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and the Valentin Fuster-Mount Sinai Foundation for Science, Health and Empowerment. She also currently sits on the Phillips Advisory Board, Verily Project Baseline Advisory Board, and Leadership18, and as board member of the National Health Council, where she is a former chairman of the board. ¹³

1. “Healthy Schools Program,” Clinton Foundation, https://www.clintonfoundation.org/our-work/alliance-healthier-generation/programs/healthy-schools-program, accessed March 25, 2020.
2. Kim, Ivy, “Big Business in the School Cafeteria,” https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1536504214545769, accessed March 25, 2020.
3. “President Bill Clinton and Alliance for a Healthier Generation Honor 250 Schools for Exceeding Federal Nutrition Standards,” September 12, 2014, https://www.healthiergeneration.org/articles/president-bill-clinton-and-alliance-for-a-healthier-generation-honor-250-schools-for, accessed March 26, 2020.
4. “Beverage Calories Initiative,” Alliance for a Healthier Generation, https://www.healthiergeneration.org/our-work/businesses/impact/beverage-calories-initiative, accessed March 26, 2020.
5. “Healthy Schools Program Framework,” Alliance for a Healthier Generation, https://www.niost.org/pdf/host/HealthySchoolsProgramFramework.pdf, accessed March 25, 2020.
6. “Juvenile Justice,” Alliance for a Healthier Generation, https://www.healthiergeneration.org/our-work/businesses/impact/beverage-calories-initiative, accessed March 26, 2020.
7. “Kathy Higgins.” Alliance for a Just Society, Accessed February 5, 2024. https://www.healthiergeneration.org/people/kathy-higgins
8. “William J. Bryant.” Alliance for a Just Society, Accessed February 5, 2024. https://www.healthiergeneration.org/people/william-j-bill-bryant
9. Confessore, Nicholas; Chozick, Amy (August 14, 2013). “Unease at Clinton Foundation Over Finances and Ambitions”. The New York Times. p. A1, accessed March 26, 2020.
10. Chozick, Amy (July 9, 2014). “Following Her Parents’ Lead, Chelsea Clinton Takes Stage as a Paid Speaker”. The New York Times, accessed March 24, 2020.
11. Greene, Morgan (October 15, 2019). Chicago Tribune, “Advice from Hillary and Chelsea Clinton to new generation of gutsy women: “Get up every day and take that deep breath and go forward””. accessed March 24, 2020.
12. “Chelsea Clinton Devi Sridhar Discuss Governing Global Health, Mar 2 2017”. www.c-span.org. accessed March 24, 2020.
13. “Nancy Brown,” American Heart Association, https://www.heart.org/en/about-us/nancy-brown, accessed March 23, 2020.