Community PartnershipsHelping Children Maintain

a Healthy Weight

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

National Cancer Institute

Why we’re talking with you today

Background– Childhood obesity– We Can! program

Our We Can! program plans

Why we need your help

Childhood Obesity: A National Public Health Problem 1 in 3 children between the ages of 2-19 are

overweight or obese

80% of children who were overweight at ages 10-15 were obese at age 25

The current generation may have a shorter lifespan than their parents

What’s causing the increase in childhood obesity?

Obesity Rates by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in 2007-2008

Nutrition: What Are Children Eating? Added sugar contributes to about 16% of the total calories in

American diets

Pizza and candy consumption have increased by 425% and 180%, respectively, since 1977

On average, Americans eat less than half of the recommended amount of fruit per day

Physical Activity: Are Children Moving Enough? Only 26% of high school girls and 44% of high school boys get

at least one hour of physical activity 5 days a week

Approximately 33% of elementary children have daily physical education, and less than 20% have extracurricular physical activity programs at their schools

Screen Time Nearly 30% of 0-1 year olds have a TV in their bedroom

On average, 8-18 year olds spend about 4 and a half hours a day watching TV and movies

On average, 8-18 year olds spend about and hour and a half on their phones

We Can! is a national education program –developed by the National Institutes of Health and designed to give parents, caregivers, and

communities a way to help children 8 to 13 years old prevent overweight and obesity, and

maintain a healthy weight

What Behaviors Does We Can! Emphasize?

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Collaboration

Why Focus on Parents/Primary Caregivers?

Parents influence what children eat at home and act as effective role models

The home is a primary place for children to learn about and get nutritious food

We Can! Community Outreach

2012 data

U.S. Organizations that Have Committed to We Can!

Community Outreach Through We Can!, community organizations can offer:

– Programs for parents – Programs for youth ages 8-13– Resources to distribute at community events

We are particularly excited to offer:

— [ADD LOCAL SITE PLANS HERE]

We Can! Parent Program

Communities can run this 4-session curriculum for parents and caregivers

Lessons focus on helping parents make healthy behavior changes at home: – Energy balance– Portion control– Family physical activity

Youth Curricula CATCH Kids Club – After-school program for children (K-5) –

focuses on increasing physical activity and promoting healthy nutrition

S.M.A.R.T. (Student Media Awareness to Reduce Television) – 3rd or 4th grade classroom curriculum designed to reduce TV and video game usage

Media Smart Youth: Eat, Think and Be Active – A 10 lesson curriculum for youth (11-13) that helps them understand the connections between media and their health

SPARK PE and SPARK After School – Curricula designed to promote physical activity in youth (K-12

We Can! Web siteWe Can!’s Web site presents a wealth of information and materials

for all audiences

http://wecan.nhlbi.nih.gov

We Can! Materials

Low Literacy Materials

Posters in English and

Spanish

Tip Sheets

Cookbooks

We Can! Local Media Outreach

The We Can! Web site and Energize Our Community: Toolkit for Action offers scripts for radio & TV, print ads, and more

The We Can! “Reaching the Media” Toolkit offers additional step-by-step instructions for sites to use in contacting the media

A press kit Ads for insertion in local press Matte articles for local distribution

All materials available online

Local Media Outreach

[INSERT YOUR MEDIA OUTREACH EFFORTS HERE] (See notes below for detail)

Local We Can! Partnerships

Why We Can! Needs Partnerships Our goal is to build partnerships with groups like YOURS to

strengthen our outreach activities

Partnering together can best optimize We Can! program recruitment/retention – which is critical to making a greater impact on childhood obesity within OUR community

Benefits of Partnering with YOUR Organization

How We Hope You Will Help

Partners can support We Can! community sites in a variety of ways. We’re hoping you can help by:

[INSERT YOUR COMMUNITY SITE PITCH HERE](See notes below for suggestions)

Thank You![INSERT LOCAL CONTACT INFORMATION

(FOR THE SITE) HERE]