Last week, as the winds of change swept through the nation’s capital and the “Yes, We Can” administration took charge, the We Can! national program also swept in the new year with new activities and plans of its own. They include:

Registering over 1,000 We Can! sites. The We Can! program has really grown since it was founded with 14 sites in June 2005. Our 1,000th site signed up in January 2009!

We Can! training sessions to be offered at the Cherokee Nation Annual Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma in April 2009. These sessions will include up to 200 representatives from Cherokee Nation grantee organizations, including schools, community-based organizations, and others up to speed and ready to implement the We Can! Energize Our Families Parent Program and CATCH Kids Club.

Interest in We Can! by the National Association of State Medicaid Directors (NASMD) after a presentation to its members by We Can! Program Coordinator Karen Donato during the group’s Fall 2008 conference in Washington, DC.

Opportunities to inform potential partners about the We Can! movement through various events, including the following presentations by We Can! Program Coordinator Karen Donato:

• January 14—Augusta, ME: University of Maine Cooperative Extension Presentation
• March 17—Bethesda, MD: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Adolescent and School Health panel presentation at the Adolescent and School Health Partners' Meeting

As always, you can visit the We Can! Web site for much more. If you have any questions, or need materials, contact us online through the site.

As you move forward into the new year, we hope that the information in this eNewsletter can provide you with news that you can use to make your resolutions a reality.

There are now more than 1,000 community sites in our We Can! family—in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 11 other countries—now let's make it 2,000!

2009 not only brought a slew of new site registrations, it also rang in the expansion of We Can! programming into at-risk communities:

Michigan: Berrien County is kicking off the new year with a focus on putting one foot ahead of the other, both indoors and outdoors. Click below to learn more about the various ways it's doing this in a primarily African American neighborhood.


Florida: Several concerned Escambia County groups came together to form a health-oriented coalition after learning that a whopping 30 percent of the area’s children were overweight. Learn why they chose We Can! to help tackle the problem, especially in inner-city Pensacola.


Tennessee: Coalitions seem to be big in the South this season. In the Volunteer State, several groups stepped forward to fight obesity; to declare Knox County a We Can! County; and to commit to spreading the word about the program in the Knoxville area and beyond.


Virginia: Like fish to water, Vietnamese immigrants in Northern Virginia enthusiastically dove headfirst into We Can!, tailoring the curricula to fit cultural needs, translating materials into their native tongue, and much more.

We Can! partners have been active across the country:

A We Can! partner is using a compelling new video about the program’s success in a Pennsylvania county not only on its Web site, but out in the field—UPMC Health Plan is helping area residents improve their health in ’09.

Doctors in Kentucky are writing out prescriptions on a new Rx pad—the new pad, however, doesn’t prescribe medication, it prescribes outdoor activities.

January 19 was not just Martin Luther King Day, it was a big day for Delaware Physicians Care, Inc., as it made a big push to reach an at-risk community through a city-wide event that attracted thousands.

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