Non-profit Partners With YMCAs to Train Teens on Developing ‘Real Food & Active Living’ Policies

Share On Social!

Teens from Youth Empowered Solutions (YES!)  in North Carolina are growing healthy change!

By using a policy approach to tackling childhood obesity, these teens are making a huge impact on the health of their community.

The group of teens whose ages range from 12-18 years are part of the non-profit organization YES!, that works with youth, adults, and community organizations to develop healthy food and active living policies.

In 2009, the statewide non-profit organization was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to launch the Healthy Vessels initiative and in 2011 the group received funding from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina to continue their work.

Recently YES! partnered with the YMCA of North Carolina to extend their reach and to award $3,000 mini-grants to youth groups across the state.

Youth groups were then invited to take part in a “Real Food, Active Living Bill” competition which was organized by the YMCA of North Carolina’s Youth & Government division.

For the competition teens were asked to draft state-level legislation that could improve access to healthy food and address the lack of pedestrian & cyclist infrastructure. Then eight different teams were selected to receive grants for creating change in their community.

During March and April of 2014, the eight teams will receive training and learn how to become leaders for healthy change.

Recent demographic trends show a rapid increase in North Carolina’s Latino population. According the Governor’s office, the Latino population grew from 4.7% in 2000 to 8.4% in 2010.

Learn more about this healthy initiative at preventobesity.net.

Read about the eight youth groups working with the YMCA of North Carolina and YES! here.