If you're looking for a great resource to bring more active spaces to your community, checkout the Playing Smart toolkit. This resource created in partnership by ChangeLabSolutions and KaBoom! provides much you'll need to know about shared use agreements. The toolkit features information on: the relationship between shared-use of land and physical activity,
shared use case studies,
ways to overcome liability concerns,
resources for financing shared use initiatives and
sample shared use agreements. Access the Playing Smart National Joint Use Toolkit here. For more on shared use agreements visit the ChangeLabSolutions, joint-use ...
When school's out and summer vacation hits, many students who rely on free or reduced price lunches at school are left without proper daily nutrition. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s summer meals programs, including the Summer Food Service Program and the National School Lunch Program's Seamless Summer Option, ensure that low-income children who rely on school meals can receive the nutritious food they need during the summer months so they are healthy and ready to learn when they return to school in the fall. But the number of kids who participate in these programs is small, especially in certain states. For example, in Illinois nearly 800,000 kids receive free or reduced price lunch in school, but only 11 percent of eligible Illinois children ...
A new bill in West Virginia might require kids to spend additional time in PE. The new piece of legislation called, The Move To Improve Act, made it through the Senate in February 2014 and will now undergo review by the House. According to a WSAZ News3 report, the bill requires elementary school children to get at least 30 minutes of PE, three times a week. For middle school students the bill requires one full period of PE per day with at least 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. High schoolers would have the option of participating in an elective lifetime physical education course, but would be required to have only one full credit of PE upon graduation. To read more about this in the news, click ...
Thirteen-year-old Estrella Hernandez, a member of the Mayor's Fitness Council Student Ambassadors, is making waves with her idea for an innovative fitness app made just for youth. Her app, "WeWalk," aims to motivate kids to exercise by using technology that they are familiar with. Kids play games on apps all the time, but now they can lead healthier lives while continuing to play. After learning about health issues and how obesity is affecting other youth her age, Estrella was inspired to combine health and technology. She has already received $12,500 in funding from the 80/20 Foundation and HEB. Building the app isn't simple, as it involves maintaining users accounts, monitoring how much users walk, and using Geo locations. Once the app is developed and beta tested, it will ...
Busy families on the go often turn to unhealthy fast food for a quick, inexpensive meal. But what if a quick, inexpensive meal wasn't always filled with junk? First lady Michelle Obama has enlisted Subway in her mission to get kids to eat more fruits and vegetables, hoping to merge convenience and nutrition. As the default kids meal options, Subway is offering apples instead of chips and either milk or water over soda. The meals are 600 calories or less, contain no trans fat and provide at least a half serving of fruit and three-quarters of a serving of vegetables. The restaurant will also begin a 41 million dollar marketing effort aimed at encouraging kids to eat more fruits and veggies. Signs will adorn the doors of every one of Subway’s more than 25,000 U.S. locations, ...
According to this news article UnitedHealthcare has teamed up with Konami, the producer of DanceDanceRevolution (DDR), to bring a new version of the game, called the DDR Classroom Edition, to schools. Some suggest that minority children, such as Latinos, living in inner-city neighborhoods may benefit the most from this game. According to this news article, researchers from George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services in Washington, D.C., are finding that active video games may provide a new avenue for kids to participate in physical activity. Already many schools have begun to use interactive video games as part of their curriculum. According to to this news article, researchers from the University of Montreal say that exergaming--playing video games that ...
By 2011, Colorado elementary schools were required to provide students with at least 600 minutes of physical activity a month. According to one study, providing daily physical education classes would increase moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels by 23 minutes a day. The study from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that classroom activity breaks provided an average of 19 minutes of MVPA and that active commuting provided 16 minutes of MVPA. Park renovations provided children with an extra 12 minutes of MVPA. Although, limited data exists on whether school districts are complying with this policy, according to this EdNews Colorado article, schools like Red Hawk elementary school have started making positive changes. Kyle Legleiter, a public policy ...
This article highlights the abundance of unhealthy snacks in schools and offers tips on how parents can keep their child's school day healthy. The article also highlights national legislation that affects school nutrition and what those regulations mean practically for teachers and ...
Angela Glover Blackwell, CEO of PolicyLink discusses the role that the built environment plays in supporting a healthy lifestyle. Although, Colorado sports lower obesity rates than most other states, Blackwell mentions that obesity rates among black and Latino children are still surprisingly high. ...
