Let's Move Cities and Towns
New Hampshire Puts Let's Move into Practice
First Lady Michelle Obama last week visited New Hampshire where she applauded that state's great work in making healthier kids a priority and recognized their success at tailoring the Let’s Move! goals to meet community-specific needs.
Mrs. Obama stressed that programs encouraging kids to stay active before and after school and to take part in growing their own fruits and vegetables in a community center garden are demonstrate exactly how Let's Move! can and should work on the ground:
Let's Move! joins the CIAA for the Tournament's 100th Anniversary Celebration
On Friday, First Lady Michelle Obama was in Charlotte, North Carolina to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The CIAA is the oldest African-American athletic conference in the U.S. and the First Lady joined area school children for a Let's Move! event on the court before the annual CIAA Basketball Tournament.
Let's Move Cities & Towns Recognition: Nashville
Copyright Metropolitan Government of Nashville/Gary Layda.
5,000 people. 360 teams. Five kilometers. One goal.
As a part of the Let's Move! Cities, Towns, and Counties initiative, Nashville’s Mayor Karl Dean decided to take an active role in helping make his city healthier. He pledged to engage Tennesseans in healthier lifestyles by creating healthy and active communities in Nashville. This past spring he launched the Walk 100 Miles with the Mayor challenge. Between April and July 2011, more than 4,000 Nashville residents walked more than 105,000 miles around Nashville’s parks and greenways with Mayor Dean. More than 500 of the participants met or exceed the 100-mile goal!
New Commitments to Aid the Fight Against Childhood Obesity Announced at Summit
First Lady Michelle Obama meets with members of the board of Partnership for a Healthier America, an organization working to end childhood obesity, at the Omni Hotel in Washington, D.C., Nov. 30, 2011. Mrs. Obama later delivered the keynote address at the PHA’s inaugural Building a Healthier Future Summit. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), which works with the private sector and its honorary chairwoman First Lady Michelle Obama to solve the nation’s obesity crisis, hosted its first national summit this week on November 29 and 30, 2011. Roughly 800 business leaders, community leaders, academic experts, government officials, parents and others joined together at the Omni Shoreham Hotel for the Building a Healthier Future Summit to share their experiences, form partnerships and announce substantive commitments to aid the fight against childhood obesity.
The two honorary vice chairs of PHA, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Mayor Cory Booker, laid out the challenges the nation faces as a result of the impact of childhood obesity on the economic, the health care system and our military readiness. But the conference was not about reciting the problems. It was about taking action. Senator Frist told of the enormous changes that are taking place in the market place with companies that are selling good-for-you foods showing higher profits and enhanced competitiveness, which you can read more about in a Politico piece penned by Senator Frist and Mayor Booker. Mayor Booker described how his city of Newark and Let’s Move! Cities and Towns all over the country are finding ways to encourage healthy eating and sponsor physical activity.
Shape Up Somerville Shows How to Make Healthy Choices Fun for Students
Dr. Judith Palfrey, joins students in the cafeteria at the Albert Argenziano School in Somerville, Massachusetts
San Antonio Among the Top Three U.S. Cities with School Salad Bars: Effort Supports First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Initiative
Check out the San Antonio School Salad Bars video.
“Mom, our school has a salad bar this year! And no offense Mom, but it was one of the best salads I’ve ever had,” said George Velasquez, a 12-year-old San Antonio middle school student.
First Lady Michelle Obama takes Your Questions
Recently we took your questions about Let's Move!, the First Lady's initiative to end childhood obesity and posed them directly to First Lady Michelle Obama. View her responses here.
Erie, PA hosts “Let’s Move at the Playground”
Last month “The Erie on the Move Taskforce,” Erie, Pennsylvania’s local chapter of the Let’s Move! Campaign, hosted a day of fun at the Holland Street Playground in inner city Erie. Entitled “Let’s Move at the Playground,” it offered an opportunity for over 100 neighborhood kids to get out and move while bringing neighbors and community members together to enjoy one of Erie’s public parks.
Spotlight: Young Leader Robert Hsu Plants Gardens and Works on Health Education in His Community
Robert, an 18 year-old from Nova, Michigan, is a youth health advocate who is focused on creating a healthier future for youth in his community. After living through his grandmother’s struggles with diabetes, Robert felt compelled to enable others to live healthier lives through education, awareness, and advocacy. He has improved his school’s cafeteria, created a health committee that never existed at his school before, helped to start and fund two gardens in his school district, and hosted a public forum on youth health. He also taught health sessions at his local library, organized a heart health awareness day at school where he educated his peers at school about the importance of staying healthy, and organized a basketball tournament to raise money for heart disease research.
