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Programs

Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled. Today, almost one in every three children in our nation is obese or overweight. The numbers are even higher in African American and Hispanic communities, where nearly 40% of the children are overweight or obese. If we don’t solve this problem, one third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives. Many others may face chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer and asthma.

Everyone has a role to play in reducing childhood obesity, including elected officials from all levels of government, schools, health care professionals, faith-based and community-based organizations, and private sector companies. Your involvement is key to ensuring a healthy future for our children.

The Let’s Move! initiative has instituted various programs across the country to mobilize each of these sectors to become involved in solving the problem of childhood obesity nationwide. These programs, highlighted below, work in collaboration with the overall goals of Let’s Move! by offering solutions and ways that each sector that plays a role can start making changes around this issue. Let’s Move! Program Factsheet.

Let’s Move Cities, Towns and Counties

No city or town is the same, and each one needs its own approach for solving obesity. Let’s Move Cities, Towns and Counties engages communities by focusing on their unique ability to solve the obesity challenge on a local level.

It’s designed to encourage mayors and elected officials to adopt a long-term, sustainable, holistic approach to fighting childhood obesity. When elected officials sign up as a prospective Let’s Move! City, Town or County, they choose to make changes in four areas over the next 12 months: Reduce the risk of obesity in early childhood, provide healthy food in schools, making healthy food affordable and accessible, and increase physical activity. Sign up your community today.

Resources

Chefs Move to Schools

Good nutrition at school is more important than ever. Over 31 million children participate in the National School Lunch Program, and over 11 million participate in the National School Breakfast Program. Chefs Move to Schools, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), matches chefs with school districts to help schools improve health and nutrition.

The chefs adopt a school and work closely with teachers, parents, school nutritionists and administrators. They teach new techniques and recipes for healthier meals that meet the schools’ dietary guidelines and budgets. And, they engage young people in learning about nutrition and making balanced and healthy choices. By creating healthy meals that are also delicious, chefs have a unique ability to make good nutrition fun and appealing.

An important component of Chefs Move to Schools is the HealthierUS School Challenge– a program that has spurred schools all across the country to raise their standards and transform classrooms and cafeterias into places where healthy eating and nutrition is learned and experienced. Schools that are doing the very best work to keep kids healthy will be recognized, and high-achieving schools will even receive monetary incentives. Visit the HealthierUS School Challenge website to sign up.

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Let’s Move Faith and Communities

First Lady Michelle Obama has challenged faith-based and neighborhood organizations to get involved in Let’s Move Faith and Communities this year! We invite you to join groups across the country who are working to meet one or more of these four goals in 2011:

Let’s Move Faith and Communities is designed to help faith-based and neighborhood organizations promote healthy living for children and communities. As trusted leaders, faith-based and neighborhood organizations are essential partners in solving the problems that lead to childhood obesity and addressing related issues of hunger. Children learn many lessons about healthy living and well-being in faith- and community-based settings that set the foundation for their lifestyles as adults.

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Let’s Move Outside

Regular exercise in nature is proven to improve children’s physical and mental health. Outdoor activity helps kids maintain a healthy weight, boost their immunity and bone health, and lower stress. Let’s Move Outside, administered by the Department of Interior, was created to get kids and families to take advantage of American’s great outdoors-which abound in every city, town and community.

Let’s Move Outside Junior Rangers, a part of the Let’s Move Outside program, promotes healthy outdoor activities in 50 national parks across the country by highlighting existing junior ranger programs that have a strong physical activity component.

Visit the Let’s Move Outside web page for ideas on what to do, what to bring and where to go in the great outdoors.

Let’s Move! Museums and Gardens

There are more than 17,500 museums of all types in the US. They include public gardens, children’s museums, zoos, art, history and science-technology centers and they are visited 850 million times a year.   They have joined together to launch Let’s Move! Museums and Gardens, a national initiative to provide opportunities for millions of museum and garden visitors to learn about healthy food choices and physical activity through interactive exhibits, children’s afterschool and summer programs, and healthy food service.  Visit your local garden and museum and ask about Let’s Move! Museums and Gardens.  Learn more.

Let’s Move! in Indian Country

The Let’s Move! in Indian Country initiative seeks to support and advance the work that Tribal leaders and community members are already doing to improve the health of American Indian and Alaskan Native children.  Let’s Move!  in Indian Country brings together federal agencies, communities, nonprofits, corporate partners, and tribes toend the epidemic of childhood obesity in Indian Country within a generation by focusing on four areas: early childhood, healthy schools, healthy communities, and physical activity.  Elected Tribal leaders in rural and reservation communities and other community leaders such as school officials and Urban Indian Centers have the ability to spur action in the areas of food access, health, wellness, nutrition and physical activity.  Many groups in Indian Country are continuing to lead by example by following traditional paths that have existed for thousands of years.

To build on the strength of tradition in Native communities, and to address the health crisis that young American Indians and Alaska Natives are facing, the Obama Administration formed an collaboration with the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative, the White House Domestic Policy Council, the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Education, as well as the Corporation for National and Community Service. Tribal governments, Urban Indian Centers, private businesses and the non-profit sector are each asked to play a key role by signing up to make commitments in each of our four target areas and  working together to raise the next generation of healthy Native children through Let’s Move! in Indian Country.    

Check out the Let’s Move! in Indian Country toolkit, Call to Action document and fact sheet for ideas for your community.  Contact us at Letsmoveinindiancountry (at) doi.gov to let us know what you can do to support Native youth and communities.

Let's Move! Child Care

Helping children get off to a healthy start in child care is critical to solving the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. Over 11 million children spend time each week in child care, center-based and home-based care programs.  Let’s Move Child Care is a voluntary initiative to encourage child care providers and parents to implement the Let’s Move Child Care Checklist that improves the quality of nutrition, physical activity and screen time in child care settings. To learn more and access free tools and resources, go to HealthyKidsHealthyFuture.org.

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Let’s Move! in the Clinic

Health care professionals directly impact children’s health. Each encounter is an opportunity to help children understand the importance of good nutrition and physical activity—from their earliest moments of life through adulthood. That’s why, by working together with children and their families in clinics, practices, homes, schools and neighborhoods, health care professionals can make a real difference in solving the problem of childhood obesity.

Visit our page for health care providers to find out what you can do, including how to print out our prescription for a healthy life to share with patients.