National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity
E-newsletter
Voices for Georgia’s Children
Wavelength
GASOPHE GAzette
newlsetter
National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity
E-newsletter
Voices for Georgia’s Children
Wavelength
GASOPHE GAzette
newlsetter
PLAY is a policy research initiative of the Georgia State University Institute of Public Health in partnership with the Georgia Center for Obesity and Related Disorders (GCORD) of the University of Georgia and Medical College of Georgia focused on engaging multiple sectors. Supported by Healthcare Georgia Foundation, the major focus of PLAY is connecting emerging evidence around childhood overweight and obesity to prevention and reduction activities occurring throughout Georgia.
• Atlanta Streets Alive is returning to Atlanta on Sunday, May 19, 2013 .
The route includes a car-free stretch of North Highland Avenue and links five neighborhoods, from Old Fourth Ward to Inman Park to Poncey-Highland to Atkins Park to Virginia Highland. Nearby neighborhoods include North Druid Hills, Midtown, Candler Park, Emory, Downtown, Little Five Points, Piedmont Park, and Grant Park. The location was chosen because of its bicycle crash rate.
What is Atlanta Streets Alive?
Atlanta Streets Alive was inspired by the ciclovia in Bogotá, Colombia, where city streets are closed to car traffic to allow people to participate in all kinds of free health and community-oriented events. Thirty years after the first program, the concept has spread around the world from Tokyo, Japan to Kiev, Ukraine and many U.S. cities. Now it is in Atlanta! For more information, click here.
• Call for proposals to the the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for new projects to research childhood obesity.
The purpose of this program is to support research on environmental and policy strategies to promote healthy eating behaviors among children to prevent childhood obesity. There are two types of awards available, the Round 7 grants and RWJF New Connections grants. The proposals are aimed at providing key decision- and policy-makers with evidence to reverse childhood obesity by 2015. These grants will be awarded through the Health Eating Research program.
For more information, click here.
• Call for applications to the Alliance for a Healthier Generation Youth Advisory Board
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation's empowerME Movement inspires kids to make healthy behavior changes and become leaders and advocates for healthy eating and physical activity.
Applications are currently being accepted for the Alliance's Youth Advisory Board for 2012-2013. Applicants must be between the ages of 8 and 17 years old and live in the United States when membership begins in July 2012. For more information, click here.
• The Obesity Society has several available pilot grants to foster and stimulate new research ideas in the any area relating to obesity.
The purpose of the Obesity Society’s Grants Program is to promote, reward, and encourage research in the field of obesity. Grants are available up to $25,000 for a 1-year period will be offered.
The Early-Career Research Grants is a program for junior-level investigators and postdoctoral trainees. Early-Career investigators are defined as individuals who have received a PhD within the past five years or MD within the past eight years and who currently hold full-time, entry-level positions (e.g., post-doctoral fellow, instructor, assistant professor) at an established academic/research institution. Applicants may request up to $25,000. These grants are administered by The Obesity Society's Scientific Review Committee, through a call for letters of intent annually. Please contact Sadie Campbell scampbell@obesity.org for questions regarding these grants.
The Named Research Grants can be structured to focus on specific factors of obesity research to enrich the knowledge of that desired areas. Grant amounts are established by the organization sponsoring the grant with a minimum of $25,000. These grants are administered by The Obesity Society's Scientific Review Committee and are made available based on sponsorship from organizations. Please contact Sadie Campbell scampbell@obesity.org for questions regarding these grants.
The Pat Simons Travel Grants are for young-investigators in obesity research. The Obesity Society will award a number of travel grants of $500 to attend the annual meeting. Potential winners will be selected from the ranking of the submitted abstracts and will need only to return a form signed by their institution acknowledging that the winner is either a graduate student or has received a PhD or MD less than 5 years ago. This grant is administered during the call for abstracts. Please contact the Education Department at education@obesity.org for further information regarding the Pat Simons Travel Grants.
The Extent to Which School Districts Competitive Food and Beverage Policies Align with the 20120 Dietary Guidelines for Americans
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has released a study which explores the standards of competitive foods and beverages being sold in schools. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 20120 authorizes the U.S. Department of Agriculture to update the nutritional standards for competitive foods in schools. These include foods sold or served outside of meal programs. Only 5% of all school districts nationwide had policies for competitive foods that met or exceeded nutritional recommendations. This study provides information for the USDA as it updates standards for competitive foods and beverages in schools. For the complete article, click here.
New Study Estimates Calorie Reductions Needed to Achieve Obesity-Prevention Goals
Researchers predict by 2020, if changes are not made for physical activity and eating behaviors, more than one in five young people could become obese. According to a new study, an estimated 64 calories need to be eliminated everyday. This can be achieved by increasing calorie expenditure, decreasing caloric intake, or both. If changes are not made, it is predicted that 20% of the U.S youth population will be obese, up from 16.9% today. For more information, click here.
Evaluation of the Healthy Schools Program: Part 1. Interim Progress
Beam M, Ehrlich G, Donze Black J, Block A, Leviton LC. Evaluation of the Healthy Schools Program: Part I. Interim progress. Prev Chronic Dis 2012. Federal and state policies identify schools as a setting to prevent childhood obesity, but schools need better health-promoting strategies. The objective of this study was to evaluate interim progress in schools receiving hands-on training from the Healthy Schools Program, the nation’s largest school-based program aimed at preventing childhood obesity. The 4-year program targets schools with predominantly low-income, African American, or Hispanic students. For the complete article, click here.
Evaluation of the Healthy Schools Program: Part II. The Role of Technical Assistance
Beam M, Ehrlich G, Donze Black J, Block A, Leviton LC. Evaluation of the Healthy Schools Program: Part II. The role of technical assistance. Prev Chronic Dis 2012. “Evidence-based technical assistance may be needed to implement recent federal policy to prevent childhood obesity through the schools. The Healthy Schools Program is the largest school-based obesity prevention program in the United States. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the role of the program’s training and technical assistance and to explore other contributing factors in changing school policies, practices, and environments.” For the complete article, click here.