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Forget about summer being a time for rest and relaxation. We Can!™ has been working!
Largely through your help, We Can! has spread like wildfire this summer, catching the attention of diverse communities nationwide and triggering the registration of over 400 new community sites this year.
In particular, we send our congratulations to five new cities and counties that have been designated by NIH as nationally recognized We Can! Cities/Counties:
- Caguas, Puerto Rico
- Broome County, New York
- Binghamton, New York
- Berrien County, Michigan
- Indiana County, Pennsylvania
We also have to pat ourselves on the back for a brief moment, by sharing news that the We Can! management team won a prestigious, internal award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). We received the NIH Director’s Award for exceptional team performance in the implementation of the We Can! program.
We couldn’t have done it without you.
While our award-winning team has been doing its share of both "watering" and planting seeds from the top down, you’ve been helping the program grow from the bottom up by nurturing it. Read all about some of our sites' most exciting stories in our Across the Country section.
We’ve also initiated new partnerships with several top-notch national organizations that can lend you their expertise and introduce the program to their members—check out the Partner Profile in this newsletter for details.
As always, you have access to other resources, materials and information on our Web site, to which we will soon add an online training to help you with your We Can! parent programming, as well as additional information about training, technical assistance, and becoming a We Can! City or County.
As well, Media-Smart Youth has a new train-the-trainers guide, designed to help community educators and leaders train other people to implement the Media-Smart Youth curriculum.
Don’t hesitate to contact us at wecan@aed.org if you have any questions or need materials.
We look forward to hearing from you, and hope that you look forward to our next newsletter, in just a few months.
Happy reading!
There are now more than 900 community sites in our We Can! family—in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and nine other countries—and we are quickly closing in on the 1,000-site mark. That’s pretty good given that We Can! began with only 14 sites just three years ago.
Activity hot spots include:
 Tennessee: The Volunteer State is living up to its name. Tennesseans from small towns to big cities—and from the grassroots to the grass "tops"—expanded the scope of We Can! in their communities, and became better educated about program offerings.
Virginia: Despite the early morning hour, a We Can! overview/training was met with great enthusiasm by various program managers in Fairfax County, in early September.
Community Health Centers, Nationwide: Due in part to the help of new partners (see Partner Profile), We Can! is quickly catching on with community health centers and their patients.
We Can! continues to add to its current list of more than 40 national and corporate partners. Notable additions since our last update include:
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Health Resources and Services Administration
- U.S. Department of Interior Fish & Wildlife Service & National Park Service
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Adolescent and School Health
Existing partners also had a busy summer reaching into their communities with our message.
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It was an active summer for We Can! community sites, too:
Washington, DC: Unity Health Care’s Cardoza Health Center is reaching out to the people it serves, in Spanish. Their effort is having a ripple effect through word of mouth.
With statistics showing that the Hispanic community has seen an increase in the number of overweight children, the need for We Can! classes and materials in Spanish has never been greater.
Mobilize your community and win We Can! prizes!
We Can! helped to commemorate Child Health Day on October 6 by asking community sites to encourage parents to take the Surgeon General’s Pledge.
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Why buy a calendar that only tells you the days of the week when you can get one that gives you fun facts on how to keep your heart healthy, too?
Get your 2009 Keep the Beat calendar, and let it help you put heart health on your daily agenda.
The 2009 edition has been updated to feature creative and simple tools, like daily "active today" boxes to follow physical activity goals, and easy-to-use charts to keep tabs on blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, and body mass index (BMI).
Keep your "ticker" in tip-top shape by ordering now.
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If you're wondering how in the world you’re going to accommodate trick-or-treaters without expanding your own waistline, remember… There are small steps you can take to use the calories you gobbled up, or keep from eating too many in the first place, including:
Tip #1: Cut high-calorie foods (like those Halloween treats) into smaller pieces and share those reduced-size portions with others, still allowing yourself a small treat.
Tip #2: Rake the leaves and pull out the dead plants and weeds in your yard—it doesn’t just make your neighbors happy; strenuous yard work burns lots of calories.
Tip #3: Wash and dry your car by hand—and enlist the whole family to help. With all the leaves, dust, and pollen of the fall season, you’ll have plenty of chances to rev up your metabolism by keeping the car clean. |
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