News

Join a Discussion about Policies to Reverse the Childhood Obesity Epidemic

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation invites comments about how to best advance policies to create healthier schools and communities. RWJF has launched a special online forum to start an open dialogue about the best ways to implement its six policy priorities for reversing the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015. The Foundation encourages everyone to register and join the conversation. The RWJF Community registration process is brief. If you are already registered, you can participate in the forum after you sign in. The discussion forum consists of six topic threads—one for each policy priority. RWJF staff members act as hosts and will post messages frequently to respond to comments and offer their own thoughts. Learn more.

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NCCOR Among Innovation Winners Celebrated Following HHS Employee Vote

Aug. 4, 2010, HHS Press Office

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced the six winners of innovation awards in the first cycle of the HHSinnovates program. The program is aimed at supporting a "culture of innovation" in one of the federal government's largest Departments.

"We launched the HHSinnovatesawards program this year because we recognize that innovation is the lifeblood of continual improvement in our Department's performance in serving Americans," the Secretary said.

"I am proud of all the candidate innovations that were nominated in this first cycle, and I thank all the employees who took part in reviewing and voting for the winners. I look forward to making HHSinnovates a permanent feature of the HHS landscape."

In response to an open request for innovation candidates last spring, a total of 126 innovations from all HHS operating divisions were submitted. HHS employees were invited to vote for best innovations, and employees cast nearly 10,000 votes, using the secure HHSinnovates intranet site. Candidates were judged on both innovativeness and potential for application elsewhere in HHS and government.

The winners announced today are the top six selected through the employees' votes. From these six, the Secretary made her pick of the top three.

The "Secretary's Pick" awards go to:

National Collaboration on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR)
To address a lack of adequate scientific evidence regarding causes and effective responses to the epidemic of childhood obesity, a public-private collaborative was formed to help steer research across institutions, enable more nimble and rapid research responses, and identify needs quickly. Team: Laura Kettel Kahn, CDC; Rachel Ballard-Barbash, NIH; Tracy Orleans, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Molly Kretsch, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Terry T-K Huang, NIH; Todd Phillips, Academy for Educational Development.

Text4Baby
Makes free information about pre-natal and post-natal care available to mothers via their mobile phones. Information is timed individually to serve each woman personally, with information available in English and Spanish. Team: Juliette Kendrick,CDC; Sabrina Matoff-Stepp, HRSA; Yvonne Green, CDC; Valerie Scardino, Office of Women's Health, OPHS; Judy Meehan, National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition; Paul Meyer, Voxiva Inc.; Paul Stange, CDC.

Purchasing Online Tracking System (POTS)
Electronic procurement process and requisition management system that enables NIH to request and track orders throughout the purchasing cycle, reducing errors and delays and reducing burden for staff. Team: Yang Fann, NIH; Trissy Knox, NIH; Gladys Wang, NIH; Quynh Ly, NIH; Robert Dean, NIH; NINDS POTS Support Team, NIH.

The other awardees selected through the employee vote are:

CDC Lab Recycling Pilot Program
To avoid substantial dumping of plastic containers which had held biohazard materials into waste landfills, CDC laboratorians devised a process for cleaning the containers after use to be suitable for recycling. Team: Sandy Steiner, CDC; Sandy Martin, CDC; Kathy Slawson, CDC.

Personal Dust Monitor
The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), working with labor, industry and others, developed a personal monitor to measure a miner's cumulative exposure to dust and enabling reduced disease. Team: John Volkwein, NIOSH; Bruce Watzman, National Mining Association; Jeffrey Kohler, NIOSH; Mike Nemergut, Thermo Scientific; Joe Main, U.S. Department of Labor; Dennis O'Dell, United Mine Workers; Joe Lamonica, Bituminous Coal Operators Association.

CDC Course on Public Health and Aging
To increase understanding throughout CDC of the needs of the rapidly-growing older population of the United States and the potential roles of public health in serving older populations, a CDC-wide one-day introductory course was developed and is now made available to all CDC employees. Team: Letia Boseman, CDC; Jeffrey Hall, CDC; Kristine Day, CDC; Andree Harris, CDC; Jason Lang, CDC; Stacey Mattison, CDC.

"The President has consistently challenged our front-line workers to help deliver a government that works, and thanks to the HHSinnovates program, we have a novel, open process to reward those who are doing just that," said Aneesh Chopra, U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Associate Director for Technology at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. "I commend HHS and Secretary Sebelius for setting a great example, as this Administration continues to work toward new heights of openness and creativity."

All six winning teams participated in a briefing on their projects with Secretary Sebelius, HHS Deputy Secretary Bill Corr and HHS Chief Technology Officer Todd Park. An awards ceremony can be seen at http://www.hhs.gov/open/innovate/
index.html. HHS also unveiled its Innovation Gallery at the same site to provide an archive of key elements of each innovation story.

Congratulations to the winners were also offered by Craig Newmark, founder of CraigsList, pioneer of social networking web tools and a supporter of HHSinnovates. "When government truly sets free the innovative spirit of its employees and all the stakeholders who work with them, our Nation will take huge new leaps that will benefit all of us," Newmark said.

The second season of HHSinnovates will commence with a call for nominations beginning in mid-October.

Roundtable: Influence of Transportation Policy on Childhood Obesity

July 15, 2010, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity

Please join the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Eastern on Thurs., July 15, for the livestream of “Keeping Kids Moving: How Equitable Transportation Policy Can Reverse Childhood Obesity.”

Live from the National Press Club in Washington, DC, the national roundtable – sponsored by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity, Transportation for America, The Convergence Partnership, and PolicyLink – will explore the vital connections between transportation policy and childhood obesity, especially for low-income children and minorities.

The event will be streamed live at: http://www.reversechildhoodobesity.org/keepingkidsmoving.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

USDA Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services (FNCS) Presents an Overview and Program Linkages to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Programs

July 22, 2010, 3-4:30 p.m. EST

On behalf of Executive Director Rajen Anand (Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion) and Administrator Julie Paradis (Food and Nutrition Service), members of the Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Webinar Planning Committee invite you to the presentation, “Leading America in Ending Hunger and Improving Nutrition and Health,” on July 22 at 3 p.m. EST, in Rhodes, Room 4000.

This session is a follow up to the April 15 webinar presented by the CDC to FNCS. There will be an FNCS overview, followed by presentations from the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Nutrition Programs (SNP), followed by a discussion of cross-program linkages. There will be time for questions and discussion to facilitate cross-agency collaboration and communication through the areas presented.

Webinar format will be available for all remote participants via Microsoft Office LiveMeeting. To participate, please complete the online registration.

A final agenda and additional materials will be forthcoming, only to registered participants. This webinar will also be recorded and available for download.

The Foundation Center Presents Philanthropy In/Sight Webinar

July 21, 2010, 2-3 p.m., EST

The Foundation Center is holding a free online webinar on how you can enhance your effectiveness with Philanthropy In/Sight. The webinar will teach you how to use this powerful interactive mapping tool. By observing a real-time demonstration of its features and participating in Q&A sessions, you and your members will learn how Philanthropy In/Sight can help you visualize data in ways that reveal patterns and relationships, assess funding needs, and make informed decisions about domestic and cross-border giving. This 60-minute webinar, designed exclusively for regional associations of grantmakers, grantmaker affinity groups, and their members, will cover how users can:

plot the locations of grantmakers and grant recipients on Google maps and view detailed information about their activities and grants awarded and received
view aggregated grantmaker and grant data by country, state, county, city, metro area, congressional district, and ZIP code
and overlay grantmaker and grant data with demographic, socio-economic, and other data.

This will be the final opportunity to attend a general purpose Philanthropy In/Sight webinar during the one-year free access period, so we encourage you to register for this webinar as soon as possible, as space is limited.

Nutrition Summit Resources Available Online

Broadcasts and summit materials are now available online for your review and use. The April 28, 2010, Nutrition Summit highlighted federal initiatives that support healthy eating by changing the food environment to one that supports health and wellness. Please take advantage of these resources and share with your colleagues.

View the following speakers as they alert the country to the importance of nutrition and examples of the government sectors and the food and beverage industry working together to improve access to and to promote the purchase of healthy foods and beverages:

Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, HHS
Secretary Thomas Vilsack, USDA (prerecorded comments provided by video)
Deputy Under Secretary Janey Thornton, Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services, USDA
Director Thomas Frieden, HHS, CDC
Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, HHS, FDA
Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, HHS
IoM Committee Chair Jane Henney, Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake
Commissioner Thomas Farley, NYC DOHMH

For more information about the conference and to view the full program schedule and list of delayed broadcast sessions, visit http://www.2010nutritionsummit.com/. The site includes sessions on access to healthy foods; making healthier food choices in schools easier for the next generation; and, improving food labeling for healthy food choices.

White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity Report to the President

May 11, 2010

In February, first lady Michelle Obama launched the Let's Move! campaign to solve the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation. As part of this effort, President Barack Obama established the Task Force on Childhood Obesity to develop and implement an interagency plan that details a coordinated strategy, identifies key benchmarks, and outlines an action plan to end the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. The action plan defines the goal of ending childhood obesity in a generation as returning to a childhood obesity rate of just 5 percent by 2030, which was the rate before childhood obesity first began to rise in the late 1970s. In total, the report presents a series of 70 specific recommendations, many of which can be implemented right away.

ACCESS THE REPORT HERE

Healthy Eating, Active Living DC 2010: Implementing Citywide Policies to Prevent Obesity

May 10, 2010, Leadership for Healthy Communities

Leadership for Healthy Communities will be hosting a policy institute for District of Columbia elected and appointed officials and key non-government stakeholders focused on the implementation of the District’s obesity prevention plan. The institute, Healthy Eating, Active Living DC 2010: Implementing Citywide Policies to Prevent Childhood Obesity will take place on May 10-11, at the Kellogg Conference Hotel at Gallaudet University, 800 Florida Ave., NE.

Among District residents, 55 percent of adults and 35 percent of youth ages 10-17 are overweight or obese—placing them at higher risk for serious, even life-threatening health problems. Among high school students, the rate of obesity is about 18 percent. If current trends continue, some experts predict that obesity-related health spending in the District could reach $341 million by 2018.

Leadership for Healthy Communities has organized this event to provide elected and appointed officials throughout DC government, and other important stakeholders with training on policy implementation and technical assistance that will help ensure the success of policies to increase access to healthy foods and opportunities for physical activity. Panel discussions, workshops and planning sessions will focus on ways to encourage inter-departmental planning and coordination; the role that non-governmental partners can play and how to involve them; and coordination between government and non-governmental stakeholders.

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IoM Seminar on Biological Markers for Healthy Development: Recent Findings from Mental Health and Obesity Studies

May 13, 2010, The National Academies Keck Center (500 Fifth Street, NW, Room 100; Washington, DC)

The Board on Children, Youth, and Families is convening a seminar on biological markers for healthy development. The purpose of the seminar is to explore recent research findings involving children or youth that describe how social environments shape biological changes that can be measured and are associated with, or indicative of, a defined biological end point such as a developmental or disease stage. The Board is inviting several leading researchers who are actively engaged in such work in two areas: (1) stress and mental health studies, and (2) studies that involve the regulation of immune or metabolic functions. View the agenda.

The event is free, and all are welcome. Register here. For more information, please contact Wendy Keenan at wkeenan@nas.edu.

Members of Congress Establish Task Force to End Childhood Obesity

April 28, 2010

The Children’s Caucus announced the creation of its Congressional Task Force on Childhood Obesity, a bipartisan team of House of Representatives Members. The task force will be led by founder Representative Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH11) and Representatives Patrick Tiberi (R-OH12), Ron Kind (D-WI03), and Dave Reichert (R-WA08). Its mission is to work collaboratively in raising awareness of and developing solutions for childhood obesity.

“For the first time in history, life spans may be shorter for children than their parents’. If we don’t begin to look at new methods to lower the rate of childhood obesity, we will be doing a disservice to an entire generation. This task force allows sharing of ideas and collaboration across party lines on this critical issue,” stated Rep. Fudge.

Over the next six to 12 months, the task force will host a series of briefings and events with national organizations to educate members, congressional staffers, and the public on the multifaceted ways to address childhood obesity.

“The task force will work to increase awareness and knowledge among children and families about the importance of the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle, maintaining a healthy weight and enjoying physical activity,” said Rep. Tiberi. “I am proud to be a co-chair of the task force and look forward to working together to raise awareness and encourage responsible and informed choices.”

The task force will promote collaboration within and among different sectors, including education, environment, industry, media, government, and public and private health care, and encourage action to decrease childhood obesity nationwide.

“I’m proud to be part of a task force that is so important to our children’s future,” said Rep. Kind. “In order to develop healthy minds, our children need healthy bodies. To do this, we must work to ensure that kids are living active lifestyles and learning healthy habits at an early age. We can do this through increased nutrition and physical education in our schools and realigning our built environment to make sure children are able to safely play outside. I look forward to working with my colleagues in this group to get kids on a healthy path and combat childhood obesity.”

By localizing its effort through broad outreach, the task force hopes to reinforce the importance of living a healthy lifestyle, eating nutritious food, and engaging in regular physical activity.

“Good health is critical to our children’s success in whatever they want to achieve,” Rep. Reichert said. “I am proud to be part of this effort to bring awareness to the issue of childhood obesity. It’s so important that we work together to strengthen our children’s future by promoting healthy habits early in life, creating a healthy foundation for children across the country.”

For more information on the Congressional Task Force on Childhood Obesity, contact LaDavia Drane at LaDavia.Drane@mail.house.gov.

Mission Statement: The Congressional Task Force on Childhood Obesity, a bipartisan team of United States House of Representatives members, will work collaboratively to raise awareness about the epidemic of childhood obesity and its impact on the health of future generations; encourage active participation by congress and the president in the effort to decrease the prevalence of childhood obesity and increase preventative measures, and promote policies that educate the public with a specific focus on the needs of children and youth.

Workshop: Ten Years Later – How Far Have We Come in Reducing Health Disparities?

April 8, 2010, 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Institute of Medicine of The National Academies

A decade has passed since several reports from the Surgeon General's office showed dramatic racial and ethnic differences in health arenas such as tobacco use and access to mental health services. People of color suffer from worse health outcomes in terms of higher tobacco use and less access to needed mental health services.

At the same time, nearly a decade has passed since the Institute of Medicine released its landmark report Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century. This volume highlights the importance of focusing on health care quality, rather than simply cost issues and access issues.

Finally, in 2000, the first real piece of legislation focusing on the reduction of health disparities was passed and was signed into law by President Clinton. Among other actions, this law created the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities within the National Institutes of Health and authorized the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to measure disparities.

The workshop will investigate what progress has been made on these issues over the past decade. It will be held at The National Academies' Keck Center (Room 100), at 500 Fifth St., NW, in Washington, DC. Please bring a photo-ID for entrance and plan to arrive a few minutes prior to 8:30 a.m. for event registration.

Download the agenda.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE UPCOMING MEETING

Webinar Series: Making Schools the Model for Healthier Environments

Please join the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity and your colleagues in the field to discuss childhood obesity research; best practices for addressing childhood obesity; and strategies for using policy and environmental change to reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity.

The Center's first round of webinars in 2010 focused on, “Making Schools the Model for Healthier Environments,” has been held bi-monthly on Thursdays at 2 p.m. ET. Each has discussed initiatives currently underway to ensure that schools become the standard for healthy eating and active living.

Register for the last webinar in the series:

April 8: Let’s Get Physical: Being Active to Reverse Child Obesity

To view the slides and audio from past webinars in the series, see below:

March 25: Setting the Standard: What Schools Are Doing about Competitive Foods

March 11: Sowing Seeds: Improving Food Quality with Farm-to-School Programs

February 25: Seizing the Moment: Efforts Underway to Improve our Schools

Also, listen to the bonus post-webinar questions and answer session audio clip, featuring webinar panelists Jim Gerstein, founding partner of Gerstein|Agne; and Vicki Berends, marketing director at California Project LEAN.

Conference Explores Intersection of Standards, Culture, and Ethics in Childhood Obesity

The Office of Research Integrity, Department of Health and Human Services presents a conference, “Quest for Research Excellence: The Intersection of Standards, Culture and Ethics in Childhood Obesity,” on Tues., April 20, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., and Wed., April 21, 8 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Keynote speaker:

Howard Koh, M.D., M.P.H. Assistant Secretary for Health U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Target audience:

Researchers (PIs, graduate students, postdoctoral students)
Research support teams
Research administrators and educators (deans, chancellors, provosts)
Compliance (RIOs, IRB)
Clinicians
Professional societies
Journal publishers/editors and other press
Consumers and families

Purpose:

A dialogue on topics that can impact research integrity in childhood obesity research including: disclosure of research questions; age of assent/dissent; impact and burden of research on families; religious issues in childhood obesity research; and, research involving American Indian populations. READ MORE

Policy Discussion on the Role of WIC and Childhood Obesity

March 16, 2010, Business Wire

Wisconsin, Washington and California State Health Officials to Discuss the Future of WIC and Its Role in Fighting Childhood Obesity

An Altarum Institute Policy Roundtable will consider the role of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in childhood obesity prevention, how the program is already addressing the childhood obesity epidemic, and – with the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act imminent – what policy changes may be needed to ensure WIC can be successful in addressing childhood obesity.

At least half of all children in this country are touched by WIC at some point in their lives, and abundant evidence suggests that obesity disproportionately affects children targeted by this program. The WIC program is in a unique position to reach an already at-risk population at a very young age and could be a vital tool in addressing the childhood obesity epidemic. Pre- and post-event interviews with speakers can be arranged. Speakers will also be available to answer questions following the presentations.

Who: Maxine Hayes, State Health Officer, Washington State Department of Health; Susan Foerster, Chief, Network for a Healthy California, California Department of Public Health; Loren Bell, Area of Expertise Lead for Food Assistance and Nutrition, Altarum Institute; and, Patti Hauser, Director of Nutrition Services for the State of Wisconsin and Chair of the Board of Directors for the National WIC Association

What: Briefing on WIC and its potential role in obesity prevention. Lunch will be provided.

When: March 23, 2010, 12-2 p.m., EDT

Where: Capitol Hill, Rayburn House Office Building, Room B-340

The information in this media advisory is strictly for planning purposes. For additional information, contact Jonathan Orr at jonathan.orr@altarum.org.

USDA Launches Apps for Healthy Kids Competition as Part of Let's Move! Campaign

March 10, 2010, USDA Office of Communications

The U.S. Department of Agriculture joined first lady Michelle Obama today in announcing the innovative Apps for Healthy Kids competition to Americans as part of the Let's Move! initiative. Apps for Healthy Kids challenges software developers, game designers, students, and other innovators to develop innovative, fun, and engaging tools and games that help kids and their parents to eat better and be more physically active.

"First Lady Michelle Obama has challenged America to tackle the issues of child nutrition and obesity and she knows that the Federal Government cannot do it alone - which is why we are launching this challenge, to tap America's ingenuity by enlisting the most creative, talented, and kid-savvy innovators across the nation to put their skills to the cause of empowering parents and inspiring kids to get active and eat healthy," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Apps for Healthy Kids competition entries will leverage the recently-released MyPyramid 1,000 food database to create web or mobile-based apps in two categories. The first set of prizes will be awarded to digital games that best engage and motivate kids to eat healthy and be physically active. The second set of prizes will be awarded to the most creative tools for parents striving to make the right choices for their kids. So when they are planning meals, at the grocery store, or picking up dinner on the way home from work, parents can instantly access easy-to-understand nutritional information they can trust. READ MORE

Using Cancer Control P.L.A.N.E.T. to Move Research into Practice

March 23, 2010 – 2-3 p.m. EST

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is pleased to announce the third presentation in the Cancer Control P.L.A.N.E.T. Step 2 Cyber-Seminar Series.

During this interactive session, Cynthia Vinson from NCI will preview the new tools available on the Cancer Control P.L.A.N.E.T. website and share exciting enhancements planned for 2010. In addition, Josephine Crisostomo from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute will highlight PLANET MassCONECT, a Community-Based Participatory Research project to disseminate P.L.A.N.E.T. tools to health program planners in three Massachusetts communities. Chrasandra Reeves will describe how the Boston Health Alliance has participated in this project and offer their perspectives on moving research into the community.

Please join them for this dynamic pairing, and learn more about how you can utilize the P.L.A.N.E.T. tools in your community and: understand challenges related to moving research into practice in a community setting; list the different steps for developing evidence-based cancer control programs; explore new and enhanced tools on Cancer Control P.L.A.N.E.T.; and, discuss how P.L.A.N.E.T. can be used to enhance moving research into practice.

Presenters:
Cynthia Vinson, MPA
Dissemination and Diffusion Coordinator
Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences
National Cancer Institute

Josephine Crisostomo, MPH
Senior Project Director
Center for Community-Based Research
Department of Medical Oncology
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Chrasandra Reeves, MHA
Coordinator
Boston Alliance for Community Health

For more information on the cyber-seminar series, please e-mail NCICCPLANETStep2@mail.nih.gov.

Archived Cyber-Seminars now available
Missed a live cyber-seminar? Want to view it again? Archived versions of the previous cyber-seminars are available for viewing on Cancer Control P.L.A.N.E.T. Step 2.

Making Schools the Model for Healthier Environments

Bi-monthly series, Thursdays, 2 p.m. EST

Please join The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity and your colleagues in the field to discuss: childhood obesity research; best practices for addressing childhood obesity; and strategies for using policy and environmental change to reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity.

The center's first round of webinars in 2010 is focused on, “Making Schools the Model for Healthier Environments.” Each webinar will be held bi-monthly on Thursdays at 2 p.m. Eastern (1 p.m. CST, 11 a.m. PST), and will discuss initiatives currently underway to ensure that schools become the standard for healthy eating and active living.

From preschool through 12th grade, schools can make a significant contribution to reversing the childhood obesity epidemic by enacting policies that promote the availability and consumption of nutritious foods and beverages, and by teaching healthy habits that can last a lifetime. The specific topics are:

Feb. 25 -- Seizing the Moment: Efforts Underway to Improve our Schools
March 11 -- Sowing Seeds: Improving Food Quality with Farm-to-School Programs
March 25 -- Setting the Standard: What Schools Are Doing about Competitive Foods
April 8 -- Let’s Get Physical: Being Active to Reverse Child Obesity

These webinars will feature researchers, advocates, and policymakers discussing solutions to problems that schools face in providing healthy food and opportunities for physical activity. These sessions will also provide resources to help make schools healthier.

U.S. Food Environment Atlas

Food environment factors—such as store/restaurant proximity, food prices, food and nutrition assistance programs, and community characteristics—interact to influence food choices and diet quality. Research is beginning to document the complexity of these interactions, but more is needed to identify causal relationships and effective policy interventions.

The objectives of the Atlas are to assemble statistics on food environment indicators to stimulate research on the determinants of food choices and diet quality, and to provide a spatial overview of a community’s ability to access healthy food and its success in doing so.

The Atlas assembles statistics on three broad categories of food environment factors: food choices, health and well-being, and community characteristics.

LEARN MORE

Yale Rudd Center Soft Drink Tax Webinar

March 9, 2010, 2-3 p.m., EST

Please join Rudd Center Director, Kelly D. Brownell, PhD, for a discussion on soft drink taxes and how they can address obesity.

In addition to updates on the latest developments in state and local policies since our July 2009 webinar, Dr. Brownell will offer an overview of the rationale, relevant science, and economic and policy considerations of soft drink taxes.

The webinar will be listen-only, but participants will have the opportunity to type questions in real time.

You have two options for listening in: using voice-over IP (VoIP) through your computer (which incurs no additional cost and requires speakers or headphones on your computer -- a microphone is not needed) or using your phone to dial into the webinar according to the confirmation email instructions (and will incur a cost to you based on your regular long distance rate).

System Requirements:
PC-based attendees require Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista
Macintosh®-based attendees require Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Reserve your Webinar seat here.

NPLAN Webinar: Fresh, Local Foods in Underserved Communities

Feb. 23, 2010, 1 p.m., EST

Eating healthier foods – including more fresh fruits and vegetables – helps to reduce the risk of obesity and chronic disease. Families and children from low-income communities and communities of color are less likely to have diets that meet nutrition guidelines. Studies show that residents of rural areas, low-income neighborhoods, and communities of color have less access to supermarkets and large grocery stores and the fresh produce they sell.

Community public health advocates and policymakers can use multiple approaches to fulfill this need for fresh produce in underserved communities. They can work with local agencies to attract full-service grocery stores. They can also support purveyors of fresh produce, often grown locally, by establishing favorable policies for farmers’ markets and mobile produce carts. The purpose of this webinar from the National Policy & Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity (NPLAN) is to discuss the latter two types of policies, which bring fresh produce directly into underserved neighborhoods and create business opportunities for community members.

Through this webinar, participants will learn about ways to bring healthy foods to communities, outside of the traditional full-service grocery store. It will also provide mini-trainings on two of NPLAN’s model policy tools: Model Produce Cart Ordinance (coming soon!) and Land Use Protections for Farmers’ Markets.

NPLAN’s Model Produce Cart Ordinance, inspired by New York City’s Green Cart program and other mobile vending ordinances around the country, is a cost-effective and efficient means of increasing residents’ access to fresh produce. It creates a streamlined permit program for the sale of fresh whole fruits and vegetables from sidewalk carts. NPLAN’s Model Land Use Protections for Farmers’ Markets provides policy language that creates more opportunities for farmers’ markets and ensures their long-term viability as a community institution.

Food Systems and Public Health: Linkages to Achieve Healthier Diets and Healthier Communities

Feb. 23, 2010, 1 p.m., EST

A recent double issue of the Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition bridges food systems and public health by identifying successful research, programs and policies within agriculture, food, and health to advance a food system that supports healthier diets and reduced obesity.

Spearheaded by Mary Story, PhD, RD, of the University of Minnesota, Michael Hamm, PhD, of Michigan State University, and David Wallinga, MD, of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, this dynamic collection of articles is the outcome of a conference held in April 2009 that focused on the food system, food, agriculture, and agriculture policy – a discussion which is central to healthy diets and obesity prevention.

Please join us for an overview of this issue, a discussion on the state of the science, and an exploration of policy opportunities to develop healthier diets and healthier communities. Featured speakers:

David Wallinga, MD, MPA, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Michael Hamm, PhD, Michigan State University
Angie Tagtow, MS, RD, LD, Consultant, IATP Food and Society Fellow, and HEN/ADA Managing Editor

RWJF Makes Statement Regarding Surgeon General's Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation

Jan. 28, 2010, RWJF Childhood Obesity News Digest

The following is a statement by Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation:

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation commends Surgeon General Regina Benjamin for her strong statement on the urgent need to reverse the obesity epidemic to create a healthy and fit nation. We welcome her visible leadership, knowing the important role her predecessors have played by speaking out on this issue. READ MORE

NSBA Webcast: Policymakers Addressing Childhood Obesity Through Collaboration and Policy Change

December 1, 2:00 p.m.

Join national experts and local policymakers for an in-depth discussion of key strategies that state and local policymakers, including school boards and administrators, can use to address childhood obesity.

This two-hour webcast, Leadership in Action: Policymakers Addressing Childhood Obesity through Collaboration and Policy Change, will highlight the Leadership for Healthy Communities Action Strategies Toolkit, a resource for state and local policymakers who want to collaborate in creating healthier schools and communities through policy change. The webcast will focus on two strategies from the Toolkit that help local school leaders collaborate with other policymakers: “Safe Routes to School programs” and “joint-use agreements.” READ MORE

FTC to Host Forum on Food Marketing to Children

The Federal Trade Commission will host a free. public forum in Washington, DC, on Dec. 15, 2009, titled “Sizing Up Food Marketing and Childhood Obesity.” The forum will assemble industry representatives, federal regulators, consumer groups, scientific researchers, and legal scholars to discuss issues related to food marketing to children.

The forum will address the food and entertainment industries’ progress toward self-regulation and implementation of the recommendations in the FTC’s 2008 report, “Marketing Foods to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities, and Self-Regulation.” In addition, the Interagency Working Group on Food Marketed to Children – comprised of representatives from the FTC, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and U.S. Department of Agriculture – will report on the status of recommended nutritional standards for foods marketed to children. READ MORE

Upcoming Webinar in 12-Week Series

Changing the Channel: The Influence of Food Marketing on Childhood Obesity

Nov., 5, 2009, 12 p.m., EST

Advertising influences the choices we make, but what do we do when advertising starts affecting our children’s health? To prevent our children from being bombarded by unhealthy food marketing – whether it’s a television commercial, an internet advertisement, or food placement at the supermarket – we must ensure our children are exposed, and have access to, healthy eating options. This session will explore what groups are most heavily targeted by marketers and what public health advocates can do to take the remote out of the marketer's hands and ultimately change the channel.

Featured Speakers:

Jennifer Harris, Director of Marketing Initiatives, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity
Vivica Kraak, Nutrition and Physical Activity Advisor, Save the Children
Pamela Weddington, Vice President of Communications, MEE productions
Margo Wootan, Director for Nutrition Policy, Center for Science in the Public Interest

This Nov. 5 installation is part of a 12-week webinar series, held every Thursday at 12 p.m. Eastern, focuses on childhood obesity research, advocacy, and current hot topics in the field. “Let’s End the Childhood Obesity Epidemic,” sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity encourages a lively exploration of the latest thinking on: childhood obesity research, best practices in the field, and resources to use policy and environmental change to create communities of opportunity.
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Webinar Focuses on Collaborative Modeling for Progressing Research, Policy

The CDC Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity-Nutrition Branch and the CDC Division of Adolescent and School Health proudly presented “Collaborative Modeling to Address Childhood Obesity: Bridging Research and Policy Making,” by Karen J. Minyard, Ph.D., director of the Georgia Health Policy Center at Georgia State University.

As a part of an intensive, year-long health policy educational program, the Georgia Health Policy Center (within the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies) implemented a collaborative systems learning approach to build Georgia state legislators’ capacity for systems thinking. The objective was to provide state policy makers with a systemic perspective on childhood obesity and to base estimates of policy impacts on scientific research. This project brought together legislators, researchers and subject matter experts in physical activity and nutrition to develop a set of actionable policy options. Researchers gained a deeper understanding of the constraints facing policy makers, and policy makers had an opportunity to test policy options using the best data available.

The computer simulation model provides an opportunity to learn about the consequences of actions before policies are set in motion. The resulting model continues to provide a framework, a common language, and a credible and engaging tool that enables state legislators to engage in a more rigorous discussion about effective and feasible policy options for reducing childhood obesity. Download the slides and additional information. Listen to the webinar.

ALR 2009 Research Summaries and Briefs Available

The chief aim of Active Living Research is to increase knowledge about active living by supporting research to identify environmental factors and policies that can increase physical activity and prevent childhood obesity, particularly among children in low-income and racial or ethnic minority communities. Research from the fields of health, planning, transportation, and recreation is growing rapidly, and much can be learned from the studies to date. READ MORE

Weight of the Nation Conference Presentations Now Available Online

Video presentations from CDC’s Weight of the Nation (WON) Conference are now available for viewing. WON was CDC’s Inaugural Conference on Obesity Prevention and Control, held July 27-29 in Washington, DC. VIEW PRESENTATIONS

Webinar Series: Let’s End the Childhood Obesity Epidemic

Sept. 16, 2009, RWJF Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity

Please join the RWJF Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity for a lively exploration of the latest thinking on: childhood obesity research, best practices in the field, and resources to use policy and environmental change to create communities of opportunity. “Let’s End the Childhood Obesity Epidemic,” a 12-week webinar series, held every Thursday at 12 p.m. Eastern, focuses on childhood obesity research, advocacy, and current hot topics in the field.

Upcoming webinars in the series:

Making Local Communities Healthier: The RWJF Center Hosts an Expert Discussion on the latest IOM Childhood Obesity Report, Sept. 17

The Institute of Medicine (IoM) has just released a report called Local Government Actions to Prevent Childhood Obesity, that outlines policy opportunities for local policymakers and communities to address the childhood obesity epidemic, with a special emphasis on populations at most risk for obesity. The IoM committee reviewed the published literature, examined reports and toolkits focused on community-based obesity prevention, and heard from experts on the role of local governments in obesity prevention.

This webinar highlights policy recommendations for communities to consider as they seek to address child obesity. Speakers will discuss the key policies as well as other important issues for communities to consider as they work to address childhood obesity.

The Face of the Childhood Obesity Epidemic, Sept. 24

The obesity epidemic impacts all races and ethnicities but some populations are disproportionately affected. Both income and race are strongly correlated with obesity prevalence. Seven of the top 10 states with the highest poverty rates also experience the highest rates of obesity. Within equivalent levels of socioeconomic status, race still serves as a determinant of health. Children, as a subgroup, are more racially and ethnically diverse than the nation’s population as a whole, and obesity prevalence rates are highest among children and adolescents of color.

This webinar illustrates research examining how obesity disproportionately affects specific communities, and strategies and insights into policy and environmental changes that may improve the landscape of childhood obesity.
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NPLAN Products Relate to 2009 IoM Report on Local Government Actions

Sept. 9, 2009, Announcement

The Institute of Medicine recently released a report by the Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention Actions for Local Governments. The Committee identified 12 action steps that it felt were the most promising. Listed are the 12 action steps and the The National Policy and Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity (NPLAN) products and legal research that relate to the action step. READ MORE

Webinar On Active Living in Rural Communities: Measuring Rural Environments for Physical Activity

June 12, 3-4 p.m. EST

A web-based seminar to help increase the skills of researchers and practitioners in measuring rural environments for physical activity will occur on June 12. The webinar -- Active Living in Rural Communities: Measuring Rural Environments for Physical Activity -- is to explore the extent that modifications to active living theory, methods and interventions are necessary for use in rural communities. The webinar will begin with a brief report on three recently completed rural active living research projects and how this formative research phase informed the development of the Rural Active Living Assessment (RALA) Tools. READ MORE

Tufts University Friedman School Of Nutrition Presents June 1 National Forum In DC On Children's Health; Topics To Be Covered Include Obesity, School Food

Tufts University Gerald J. & Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy will present a national forum on June 1st in Washington, DC on the most pressing nutrition and health policy issues affecting children. Tufts' faculty experts in nutrition will join academic, corporate and government colleagues for an in-depth discussion entitled: "Children's Health: The Future of Food & Nutrition Policy." Topics covered include childhood obesity, nutrition standards, global child nutrition and school food. READ MORE

New York City Official Is Obama Pick For CDC

May 15, 2009, The New York Times

President Obama announced that he has chosen Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the New York City health commissioner, as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, administration officials said. Dr. Frieden, a 48-year-old infectious disease specialist, has cut a high and sometimes contentious profile in his seven years as New York’s top health official under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. He led the crusade to ban smoking in restaurants and bars, pushed to make H.I.V. testing a routine part of medical exams, and defended a program that passes out more than 35 million condoms a year. At the CDC, he will inherit a host of immediate and long-term problems, including a looming decision about whether and how to produce a swine flu vaccine. Health experts say the agency must resolve serious morale and organizational issues even as the administration struggles to overhaul the nation’s health care system. READ MORE

There’s More To Health Than Health Care

May 2009, Commission to Build a Healthier America

On April 2, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America – led by Mark McClellan, M.D., Ph.D. and Alice M. Rivlin, Ph.D., two national health care and fiscal policy leaders – released 10 recommendations for dramatic improvements in the health of all Americans, particularly those who face the greatest barriers to good health. Launched in February 2008, the 14-member national, independent, non-partisan Commission has spent the last year investigating how factors outside the health care system affect health. The Commission’s recommendations call for changes in schools, at home, in communities, and in the workplace. They are rooted in a twin philosophy: good health requires individuals to make responsible personal choices as well as a societal commitment to remove the obstacles preventing too many Americans from making healthy decisions. See the recommendations, watch videos from the event and read the new report, Beyond Health Care: New Directions to a Healthier America, at commissiononhealth.org.

You're Invited -- "National Institutes of Health: Improving Health Through Behavioral And Social Sciences Research" Congressional Exhibition and Reception

April 28, 2009, Cannon House Building, 4-7 p.m.

“Imagine living in a nation where one out of every two adults smoked cigarettes, where depression and substance abuse were mysterious and poorly-understood conditions, and where children’s developmental problems were automatically blamed on bad parenting. Just a few short decades ago, this imagined world was reality. Social and behavioral research supported by the NIH has made significant contributions to improving our nation’s health.”
--Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, NIH READ MORE [PDF]

Schools Should Increase Exercise And Track Weight Data,
Study Recommends

April 9, 2009, The Washington Post

Local schools need to do more to get students moving and track their weight data, according to a regional survey on childhood obesity released yesterday. Researchers for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments surveyed nine area school districts and found that although all met federal nutrition guidelines for meals, none met the recommended 150 minutes of physical education a week. The average elementary school recess was 15 minutes a day and jurisdictions offered 40 to 90 minutes a week of physical education, the survey found. Schools also need to collect weight data on students by tracking their body mass index (BMI) to provide a better picture of obesity trends, according to the report. Only the District and Arlington County track the BMI of all students, although there are smaller programs in Loudoun and Prince George’s counties. County planners should consider adopting land-use proposals that foster exercise and access to healthy food, according to the report. READ MORE

Measurement of the Food & Physical Activity Environments: Enhancing Research Relevant to Policy on Diet, Physical Activity, & Weight

American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Volume 36, Issue 4, Supplement 1, Pages A1-A6, S81-S190 (April 2009). Edited by Robin A. McKinnon, Jill Reedy, Susan L. Handy and Anne Brown Rodgers.

Given the high rates of obesity prevalence in the United States and around the world, research interest has grown regarding the effects of the community food and physical activity environments on individual diet and activity behavior. Robust measures of these environments are required in order to assess any effect. Measurement of food and physical environments is a relatively young field, although many “first generation” measures exist. Researchers use a variety of methods to measure these environments, including survey instruments (self-reported and observed) and methodologies such as geographic information systems. To stimulate further progress in this vital research area, NCI, in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and other NIH Institutes and Centers, organized the “Measures of the Food and Built Environments Workshop” in November 2007. The April 2009 supplement to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine reports on the workshop proceedings. READ MORE AND ACCESS INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES WITHIN THE SUPPLEMENT

Register for the Seventh International Conference on Diet and Activity Methods,
June 5-7, 2009

Deadline: May 5, 2009

The overall goal of this congress is to provide a forum for sharing knowledge on diet and physical activity assessment methods, by promoting a better understanding of their strengths and limitations; stimulating international and interdisciplinary research focusing on analytical issues; and identifying future priorities. READ MORE [PDF]

NIH's We Can! Partners With Subway Restaurants To Expand Movement To Prevent Childhood Obesity (Web/PDF)

March 24, 2009, Press Release

The National Institutes of Health's We Can! program has partnered with Subway Restaurants to reach families throughout the United States and beyond with practical tips and tools to help children and their parents maintain a healthy weight and prevent overweight and obesity. The partnership will be launched today at a National P.E.P. (Play More, Eat Right, and Push Away the Screen) Rally at the D.C. Armory in Washington, D.C. The event will feature hundreds of youth, parents, and teachers, along with Subway spokesman Jared Fogle, boxing champion Laila Ali, Olympic soccer star Tab Ramos, and Lawrence A. Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D., NIH acting principal deputy director. READ MORE [WEB] | READ MORE [PDF]

CDC Announces Second Phase Of Community Health Resources Website

Spring 2009, CDC FAQ

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Community Health Resources website is a new channel to increase access for community health practitioners to online resources and materials from CDC and CDC partners. The first phase of the site features a searchable database application, which includes links to community health materials and information available on CDC.gov and on CDC partners’ sites. CDC colleagues may refer links to CDC’s and CDC partners’ online resources for community health practitioners to be considered for inclusion in the searchable database. READ MORE

Leading Research Funders Launch Collaborative To Accelerate Nation’s Progress in Reducing Childhood Obesity (Web/PDF)

Feb. 19, 2009, NCCOR Announcement

A new National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR) was launched today to accelerate progress on reversing the epidemic of overweight and obesity among U.S. youth. The initiative brings together the expertise and resources of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), three of the country’s leading research funders. READ MORE [WEB] | READ MORE [PDF]