Spring has finally sprung!

This issue introduces the new and exciting We Can! activities happening this season across the country including the new We Can! City Program and regional training events.

We Can! City Program
We Can! provides opportunities for communities to sign up as an Intensive Site or a General site, and now introduces the We Can! City Program. The new city program has been designed to assist towns and cities across the United States with community-based mobilization to prevent childhood overweight.

Each We Can! City pledges to offer We Can! evidence-based obesity prevention programs to both parents and youth in collaboration with community-based partners. Cities will coordinate community events including a mayoral proclamation and distribute We Can! tips and information to city employees.

One of the ways that We Can! will recognize a city’s efforts is through a specially designed road sign.

The first three cities to sign up for this program are South Bend, IN; Gary, IN; and Roswell, GA. NIH officials are presenting the specially designed We Can! road sign to the mayors of each of the three inaugural cities during the We Can! regional trainings or other local event.

"The National Institutes of Health developed We Can! to bring to our communities research-based information and strategies to teach children how to adopt behaviors that can help them maintain a healthy weight," notes NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, M.D. "Through the efforts of communities like South Bend, Gary, and Roswell, we can make a difference.”

Read the national press release announcing the We Can! City Program.

We Can! Regional Trainings
Two We Can! Regional Trainings, hosted by the NIH and local We Can! community sites in Indiana (April 30-May 1) and Georgia (May 3-4), will be attended by more than 300 community leaders from across the United States.

To inaugurate the We Can! City program in South Bend, IN, Dr. Judy Monroe, the State Health Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Health was present along with Mr. Phil St. Clair, the South Bend Park Superintendent. In Roswell, GA, Dr. Griffin Rodgers, Director of the National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases will be joined by Mayor Jere Wood together with other city officials.

The two-day events provide a unique opportunity for attendees to receive training from national experts on the science-based curricula developed for youth and for parents to promote healthy lifestyles. Because registration reached capacity three weeks ahead of schedule, We Can! is tracking requests for additional training and adding interested individuals to a list to receive the first announcements of future events. Contact us at WeCanTraining@aed.org if you would like to be included on this list.

More and more communities are learning about We Can! and the benefits of the program. With more than 190 community sites in the United States, Canada, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and now Nigeria, We Can! continues to grow at an impressive rate.

See a complete list of We Can! community sites.

Our goal is to continue to reach even more communities with this evidence-based program to maintain a healthy weight, and you can help. Visit our website to learn how easy it is to join the We Can! movement and sign up today. The program is flexible and can be implemented in a variety of settings.

If you are already a community site, we encourage you to broaden your involvement by championing the We Can! program to new sites or by becoming an intensive site. Or, perhaps the We Can! City option is right for you. We encourage you to visit the We Can! website and see what category best suits your needs.

Sign up to become a We Can! community site or a We Can! City.

Earlier this spring, Mutual of Omaha invited Ms. Karen Donato, Coordinator of the NHLBI Obesity Education Initiative and the We Can! program, to speak at a community breakfast and introduce We Can! to the Omaha business community. After the breakfast, Ms. Donato attended the first session of Mutual of Omaha’s We Can! parent program.

“It was exciting to see the program in action and how much fun both the participants and facilitator had with it,” says Ms. Donato.

Additionally, one of the participants said, “I heard so many people [talking] about this not being so much a program about teaching their kids about nutrition and fitness...but about teaching their entire family about nutrition and fitness.”

The Association of Children's Museums (ACM) invited Ms. Donato to speak at their Good to Grow, or “G2G,” planning meeting in February. G2G is ACM’s new obesity-prevention campaign that will launch in May. ACM also included a Q&A with Ms. Donato in their quarterly member newsletter, ACM Forum. Visit the ACM website to get more information about G2G.

The American College of Sports Medicine highlighted its support of We Can! in the February issue of their online newsletter for regional chapters, Get Connected.

Learn how you can become a partner.

See a complete list of our National and Corporate Partners.

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