Anyone that impacts school health can be on a School Health Advisory Council (SHAC). Through SHACs parent liaisons, educators, and community partners can work together to plan, evaluate, and implement the healthiest practices for kids at schools. According to this report from the Arizona Department of Health, in 2009, 33 percent of Latino children were either overweight or obese. Thanks to a $15.7 million grant to fight obesity, Pima country started a program to establish over 150 SHACs all across the county. The Arizona Department of Health partnered with the Arizona Department of Education to encourage schools in Arizona to establish SHACs. Watch this video to see how students from Challenger Middle School are benefiting from the coordinated approach to school ...
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 ...
State legislators can promote physical activity by developing policies to encourage school districts to keep their facilities open to the community, during non-school hours. The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)--a bi-partisan organization that provides legislators with research and technical information about the most pressing state issues--convened to discuss the use of such policies, known as shared use agreements, to address the issue of childhood obesity. According to the NCSL, in 2011 four states--Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, and Tennessee--enacted legislation to encourage shared use agreements in their states. In 2012, the states of California, New Mexico, New York, and Pennsylvania left similar legislation pending. Learn more from the NCSL about the 2011 shared ...
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 ...
The state of Massachusetts launched its Mass in Motion initiative in January 2009 to promote wellness and to prevent obesity. Through Mass in Motion, coordinators in Springfield identified a need to provide children with more safe places for physical activity. Members of Mass in Motion, sought opportunities for funding and identified two school gyms in areas of need, where after school physical activity programs could be developed. Because Mass in Motion had previously partnered with the Parks Department and the school district, they were able to keep gyms open during after school hours to provide children with a basketball program. Although a formal shared use agreement was not signed, Mass in Motion enabled children in Springfield to participate in after school physical activity ...
The Dallas Mayor’s Youth Fitness Initiative (MyFi Dallas)—a public/private partnership led by City of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and community and business leaders—is making long-term improvements in the way Dallas children eat, play and live. MyFi Dallas is uniting government with local leaders to evaluate and leverage existing projects, and design and implement new activities supportive of healthy eating and active living in kids. Through a partnership with the Dallas Parks and Recreation Department MyFi Dallas delivers programs to promote healthy lifestyles for children. The program was developed in 2010, when programs at recreation centers across Dallas were in jeopardy of being closed. Fortunately, city leaders joined with Oncor--a corporation who decided to contribute $1 ...
In January of 2009, the Healthy Out-of-School Time coalition was formed and by April of 2011 the group had adopted the healthy eating and physical activity quality standands (HEPAQS) for out-of-school time. In this article from Childhood Obesity, Wiecha et al. (2012) discuss the protocol used to develop the HEPAQS as well as the implications they may have on policy development. HEPAQS includes 11 standards for Healthy Out-of-School Time, that could serve as voluntary guidelines for out-of-school programs and curricula.The physical activity component of this document offers guidelines for: best practices;
staff training;
social support;
program support; and
environmental support. According to a recent study, although Latino children met screen time viewing recommendations, ...
The Cooper Institute and United Way Metropolitan Dallas have collaborated to form the Healthy Zone School Program. The Healthy Zone School Recognition Program encourages schools to implement policies and initiatives to help fight childhood obesity, in the Dallas area. In order to be a part of the program, schools must go through a competitive selection procedure. To be considered for the program a school must demonstrate that it: promotes healthy eating;
provides various opportunities for children to participate in physical activity;
provides physical education that lives up to the standards of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education; and
has established a School Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) that is comprised of various stakeholders. If a school lacks any ...
Competitions like the HEB Community Challenge prompt communities to make healthy lifestyle changes, and help raise awareness of childhood obesity. In 2012, a total of 38 mayors across Texas and several school officials recorded videos asking members of their community to participate in this state wide challenge. A total of 324 communities were enlisted in the challenge and 14,517 individuals were engaged in the effort to make their community a healthier one. At the end of the competition the winning cities of the challenge were San Antonio, Brownsville, and Pflugerville. This video showcases the top nine scoring communities in the H-E-B Community Challenge. One winner was selected from a small, medium, or large city. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4sdcm2qUsw Not only did the Healthy ...
