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Afterschool as a Vehicle for Youth Obesity Prevention

Partnerships | Policies | Program Models | Research and Data Collection Systems | Funding


Audioconference

The statewide afterschool networks joined the March audioconference to explore issues surrounding obesity prevention and ways afterschool can be a part of the solution for youth. National experts provided context to this national crisis and network representatives shared their stories of collaboration.

Partnerships
Resources on national, state and local partnerships...

  • Action for Healthy Kids

  • AED Center for Youth Development and Policy Research

  • Afterschool Alliance: Active Hours Afterschool

  • Alliance for a Healthier Generation

  • American Alliance for Health Physical Education and Recreation

  • Center for Collaborative Solutions

  • Children's Hunger Alliance

  • Child Nutrition Foundation

  • Federal Food Programs

  • Fit Source

  • Food Research and Action Center

  • Foundation for Child Development

  • Girls on the Run

  • International Association for the Study of Obesity

  • National Dairy Council

  • National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

  • National School Lunch Program: Afterschool Snacks

  • National Youth Sports Program

  • Outdoor Industry Foundation

  • School Nutrition Association

  • Southern Nursery Association

  • The Afterschool Investments Project

  • The Finance Project: Out-of-School Time Clearinghouse

  • Vermont Department of Health, Fit and Healthy Kids


    • Partnerships | Policies | Program Models | Research and Data Collection Systems | Funding


    Policies
    Resources on policies such as state legislation, local wellness policies and other administrative changes...

  • Building a Healthy, Active Australia
    • In June 2004, the Prime Minister, the Hon John Howard MP announced $116 million over four years to tackle the growing problem of declining physical activity and poor eating habits of Australian children. The initiative consists of four key components; Healthy School Communities , Healthy Eating and Regular Physical Activity –Information for Families, Active After-School Communities and Active School Curriculum.

  • Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act
    • The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act serves to strengthen nutritional service programs, promote healthy choices among children and address growing concerns that the federal school lunch program does not do enough to ensure free and reduced-price lunch benefits go to children who qualify.

  • Fit, Healthy and Ready to Learn: A School Health Policy Guide
    • This guide serves to help state and local decision makers establish effective policies to help students achieve their academic potential and adopt lifelong healthy habits.

  • Health and Well-Being of Children: A Portrait of States and the Nation 2005
    • The National Survey of Children's Health, conducted for the first time in 2003, addresses multiple aspects of child health­-including physical and mental health, health care, and social well-being­-as well as aspects of the family and the neighborhood that can affect children's health, on both the National and State levels.

  • Local School Wellness Policies
    • One section of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 requires that all school districts that participate in the National School Lunch Program have local wellness policies by July 1, 2006. This Web site provides tools to help schools create their own wellness policy.

  • Maryland Officials Weigh In on Pupils' Obesity
    • The Maryland State Senate has recently created two bills focused on obesity report cards: 1) SB 329 that would measure the body mass of all first-, third-, fifth- and eighth-graders within 90 days of the start of school and mail results to parents in a confidential health report card; and 2) SB457 that would add a diabetes screening and body mass index test to the existing screening students get for scoliosis between sixth and eighth grades. Additionally, the bills would require reviews of food sold in schools, as well as require fruit and vegetable servings in all cafeterias.

  • Model School Wellness Policies
    • This comprehensive set of model nutrition and physical activity policies is based on nutrition science, public health research and existing practices from exemplary states and local school districts around the country.

  • New Effort to Require Physical Education
    • A bill to fight childhood obesity by making physical education mandatory again in Tennessee schools is gaining momentum in the General Assembly. State Sen. Bill Ketron legislation would require at least 150 minutes of weekly physical education from kindergarten to the eighth grade.

  • Wellness Policy Tool
    • This tool has been designed to help teams create a local wellness policy that meets district's goals for nutrition and physical activity. The Action for Healthy Kids Wellness Policy Tool allows one to build their own policy by cutting and pasting language from existing or model policies that have been gathered from states and districts around the country.

    Partnerships | Policies | Program Models | Research and Data Collection Systems | Funding


    Program Models
    Resources on demonstration sites, replicable models and lists of exemplary practices...

  • After School Math
    • The After School Math is a full-featured math Web site for grades 5-8 created by after school staff and credentialed teachers. The site consists of ten thematic activity modules, each with at least four activities. These content standard aligned activities are fun, hands-on and provide opportunities for small group interaction, cooperation and student leadership.

  • Brain Breaks
    • Brain Breaks is a physical activity idea book for elementary classroom teachers focused on language arts, math, science, social studies and general education practices.

  • CDC’s State-Based Nutrition and Physical Activity Program to Prevent Obesity and Other Chronic Diseases
    • The Nutrition and Physical Activity Program to Prevent Obesity and Other Chronic Diseases is designed to help states prevent obesity and other chronic diseases by addressing two closely related factors — poor nutrition and inadequate physical activity. The program supports states with developing and implementing science-based nutrition and physical activity interventions.

  • Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH)
    • CATCH is an evidence based Coordinated School Health Program designed to promote physical activity, healthy food choices and prevent tobacco use in elementary school aged children. By teaching children that eating healthy and being physically active every day can be FUN, the CATCH Program has proved that establishing healthy habits in childhood can promote behavior change that carry into adulthood.

  • Healthy Children, Healthy Futures
    • This program provides curriculum for educating both children and parents to become advocates — through their schools, families and communities — for healthy eating and increased physical activity.

  • Jump Into Food and Fitness
    • This program provides research-based curriculum for adults and older teens to use with kids aged 8 to 11 (grades 3 to 5). The program encourages win-win situations and keeps kids active most of the time. The activities can easily be adapted for younger (aged 5 to 7) and older children (aged 12 and up).

  • KID-FIT
    • KID-FIT is a physical education program for preschool children (ages 2 - Kindergarten) that provides videos, health statistics and networking opportunities.

  • Making It Happen! Nutrition Success Stories from Team Nutrition
    • This publication shares stories from 32 schools and school districts that have made innovative changes to improve the nutritional quality of all foods and beverages offered and sold on school campuses. These success stories illustrate the wide variety of approaches used to improve student nutrition.

  • Michigan 4-H Children's Garden
    • The 4-H Children's Garden is one of the five parts of the Horticultural Demonstration Gardens. It is just over 1/2 acre in size and offers a place where children can participate in outreach activities and learn about plants and the environment.

  • Minds in Motion
    • This South Dakota program offers curriculum ideas in math, science, reading and social studies in grades K-2 and 3-5.

  • ReCharge!
    • ReCharge! is a fun-for-kids after-school program designed for students in grades 3 to 6 to learn about and practice good nutrition and physical activity habits.

  • Sports, Play & Active Recreation for Kids (SPARK)
    • The SPARK Programs are dedicated to improving the quantity and quality of physical activity for children (ages 5-14) and teachers everywhere by disseminating materials, curricula and professional development opportunities.

  • Team-Up for Youth
    • TeamUp serves to strengthen and expand after-school sports programs, particularly those serving low-income neighborhoods.

  • A World Fit for Kids
    • This program helps students improve their own physical, mental and emotional fitness through sports, fitness and peer leadership training. It also offers mentorship training and provides life skills for the student's successful integration into school, the workplace and the larger community.

    Partnerships | Policies | Program Models | Research and Data Collection Systems | Funding


    Research and Data Collection Systems

  • 2006 Child Well-Being Index (CWI) Results
    • The 2006 Child Well-Being Index (CWI) is one of the nation’s most comprehensive measurements of trends in the quality of life of children and youth in America. The CWI suggests several leading indicators that may predict higher academic performance among American students.

  • A Nation at Risk: Obesity in the United States
    • This statistical sourcebook shows ways obesity can be prevented and examines factors that contribute to the patterns of unhealthy eating and insufficient physical activity that are at the heart of this epidemic.

  • Afterschool Program Participation and the Development of Child Obesity and Peer Acceptance
    • This longitudinal study assesses the role of afterschool program (ASP) participation in the development of child obesity and peer acceptance in a sample of 439 children. The study found that children who become involved in ASP are significantly less likely to be obese at follow-up than nonparticipants.

  • Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System
    • Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System is a monthly data collection system. Although the BRFSS was designed to collect state-level data, a number of states from the outset stratified their samples to allow them to estimate prevalence for regions within their respective states. BRFSS is administered and supported by the Division of Adult and Community Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC.

  • Columbus Children’s Hospital Snackwise Nutrition Rating System
    • Snackwise is computer software that evaluates a snack foods nutritional quality for ten parameters; total calories, total fat, saturated fat, sugar, protein, fiber, calcium, iron, and vitamins A and C for any healthy consumer over the age of five. The snack food is then assigned a point value which is then translated into an easy to follow, highly recognizable color coding: Green: Best Choice, Yellow: Choose Occasionally, Red: Choose Rarely.

  • Criteria for Evaluating School Based Approaches for Improving Nutrition and Physical Activity
    • This report defines a set of standard criteria for creating and evaluating school-based approaches for improving nutrition and physical activity. In order for schools to implement best practices, they must know what works under what conditions. These criteria can be applied to a broad range of practices, policies and programs to measure their potential effectiveness and adoptability.

  • Developing Exemplary Practices in Nutrition and Physical Activity in Afterschool
    • Based on scientifically-based research and practical experience, the Exemplary Practices in Nutrition and Physical Activity outline six practices that are critical to achieving the goal of helping children and young people acquire the knowledge, understanding and motivation they need to make wise decisions about their eating habits and physical activity.

  • Food Research & Action Center: Afterschool Guide
    • A handbook explaining the basics of afterschool nutrition programs, offering a step-by-step guide on how to access crucial funding sources and providing information on the resources available to afterschool programs for nutrition education.

  • Study Predicts Rise in Overweight Children
    • According to a report published by the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, nearly half of the children in North and South America will be overweight by 2010, up from what recent studies say is about one-third. One researcher warnes that lawmakers have to take a broader view of the looming problem -- and consider doing things such as banning trans fats and legislating against direct advertising of junk food toward children.

  • The Learning Connection: The Value for Improving Nutrition and Physical Activity in Our Schools
    • Action for Healthy Kids' exclusive landmark report documents how the excessive rise in poor nutrition, inactivity and weight problems is adversely affecting academic achievement and possibly costing schools millions of dollars each year. The report calls on schools to work with partners to take immediate action to address the issue, and points to current best practices in schools, school districts and states.

  • Youth Risk Behavior Survey
    • The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System allows states to survey variety of risk behaviors in youth, compare data across states through an interactive system and obtain national trends in selected health topics.

    Partnerships | Policies | Program Models | Research and Data Collection Systems | Funding


    Funding
    Resources on afterschool funding to support wellness programs...

  • CDC Healthy Youth Grants Resources and Database
    • The database contains active information about funding opportunities for adolescent and school health programs. These funding opportunities are from federal agencies and the private sector. Each funding opportunity is carefully selected based on its relevance to adolescent health, or one or more of the eight components of a Coordinated School Health Program (CSHP) as defined by the CDC.

  • Financing Childhood Obesity Prevention Programs: Federal Funding Sources and Other Strategies
    • This Finance Project guide profiles federal funding sources that can be used to support obesity prevention strategies from communities utilizing these funds and outlines key considerations to help leaders develop financing plans to meet their program goals.

  • Fitness and Nutrition Audio Conference
    • This Afterschool Investment Project post-conference page on fitness and nutrition in afterschool settings features audio transcript, general information on funding and technical assistance examples.

  • Physical Education Program (PEP)
    • PE4life is a grant that serves to inspires active, healthy living by advancing the development of quality, daily physical education programs for all children.

  • Shaping America's Youth
    • The site provides regularly updated list of organizations, and their website links, that fund childhood obesity-related projects and programs.


    Additional Information
    For additional resources visit the Resources On Afterschool wellness page
    Encourage your students to calculate their body mass index