Pathway to Excellence Year Three
For Year Three, Pathway to Excellence chose a content strand focused on educating young people and their families and communities about the importance of healthy nutrition and physical activity. School's Out Washington partnered with Healthy Children Healthy Futures (HCHF) to present their 8 Habits of Healthy Kids program.
HCHF and MetLife Foundation joined forces to implement Child Health Initiatives for underserved young people, ages 9-14, in some of our country’s largest urban areas, including Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore, Houston and Chicago. The Initiative, based on the 8 Habits of Healthy Kids, provided children in afterschool settings with the opportunity to learn about healthy eating and physical activity and motivated them to create compelling messages that encourage their peers to do the same.
The HCHF training program provided the opportunity for participants to explore the exciting, interactive way children in afterschool settings learn to become advocates for healthy eating and physical activity through multi-media targeted to their peers, families and communities. Participants were provided with the tools to incorporate the nutrition and activity behaviors of the 8 Habits of Healthy Kids, the core framework of HCHF, into multimedia campaigns. Media and health literacy principles were incorporated throughout the HCHF program materials for children and facilitators. Taught by program and nutrition experts, the training enabled participants to gain a practical, effective knowledge and skill base to facilitate the HCHF after-school program to a diverse audience of young people.
Pathway to Excellence Project Year 3 incorporated a movement component to compliment the HCHF curriculum. Participants received training on how to engage children and youth by using movement and dance, as well as a dance curriculum and additional resources to take home and use at their sites. Movement coaches Louie Praseuth and Flow Francisco led a number of dance and movement workshops for young people and program staff, all of which have been very successful. The participating programs all found exciting ways to make the curriculum come alive.
At the outset of applying for funding from The Atlantic Philanthropies, we anticipated our proposed approach to professional development for the afterschool and youth development field, as well as capacity building for our own organization, would lead to certain outcomes. Now, at the end of our third year of funding, we marvel at the layers of positive changes that have resulted from our work.
We focused training in the Pathway to Excellence project on teaching afterschool staff about promoting healthy behaviors among youth. Not only have individual staff and youth in programs adjusted their own behaviors around eating, exercise and media consumption, they have also inspired change in their families’ behaviors as well. Furthermore, these youth, parents and adult mentors have shaped and given momentum to broader health promotion initiatives in their communities.
In 2009, School’s Out featured training by HCHF at its annual Bridge from School to Afterschool and Back conference. School’s Out recruited approximately 36 staff from 18 afterschool programs and three coaches to participate in this training on promoting eight daily healthy eating habits, physical activity and reducing youth’s “screen time” – electronic media use such as games, texting, music and the internet. The project impacted 1,420 children and youth. The curriculum also focused on teaching youth to be health advocates with their peers, in their schools, families and communities.
In line with its focus on achieving equitable outcomes for youth of color, immigrants and refugees, School’s Out targeted its recruitment efforts to Pierce, Spokane and South King counties. After the conference, participants received on-site support from their regional coaches, gathered with the other providers in their area and utilized an on-line discussion board to share ideas about incorporating the curriculum into their programs and solve problems. Through their coaches, PTE participants shared stories of the impact this training and on-going support has had on them, the way they plan their programs, the youth they serve and the broader community.
At one South King County PTE site, staff offered a cooking class to raise youth’s awareness of healthful food and healthy eating. Youth took the recipes home to their families and tried it out with them. The cooking classes and Healthy Children Healthy Futures curriculum have inspired one of the staff to make changes in his own life. Now, he too incorporates more healthful food into his diet and has reduced his own screen time.
From another South King County site that serves high school youth, the PTE coach for this program shared the following story. “Alan is 16 years old and is in 9th grade. Alan used to be overweight. This year, he has lost considerable weight when he started practicing healthy eating and [promoting] the eight habits of healthy kids. His mom is a big support for this lifestyle. She cooks his food and supports him in eating healthy. Alan limits his drinking soda to once every two weeks and drinks a lot of water. Before [exposure to the Healthy Children Healthy Futures activities], he drank soda every day. He also tries to make his own sandwiches, using wheat bread and leaving out cheese, instead of buying from the deli. He is also conscious of being physically active. He plays soccer all the time and goes walking for exercise.”
In Pierce County, all six of the PTE sites have implemented significant changes to their programming, including introducing more fruits during snack time and building in time for physical activities such as live hip-hop dance sessions. Three programs recently collaborated to present a free health carnival, open to the general public. Youth organized hip-hop dance demonstrations and a competition. They created posters and tee shirts highlighting the eight healthy habits from the Healthy Children Healthy Futures curriculum. The carnival, attended by over 275 people from throughout the county, also featured free dental screenings, martial arts and healthy cooking demonstrations. Later in the school year, all six Pierce County PTE sites will organize another free, countywide health carnival.
We see this seismic shift in attitude and behavior in all PTE sites in all three counties. Staff members are becoming more intentional about their programming. They are changing their budgets in order to invest in healthier snacks, instead of continuing to get cheap unhealthy food to save money. Participating students are now the ones asking for healthier snacks and activities, and, with the program staff, initiating changes related to health and nutrition in their schools and their broader communities.