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Approximately 16 percent of U.S. children ages 6 -19 are overweight, and another 15 percent are at risk of becoming overweight. Afterschool programs can - and do - play an important role in promoting healthy lifestyles for youth. Many programs offer youth an array of organized physical activities and serve healthy afternoon snacks while emphasizing the value of a nutritious diet. As part of the Quaker Chewy Afterschool Rocks campaign, the Afterschool Alliance and Quaker Chewy teamed up to create the“Get Active: Be Healthy Afterschool Toolkit” to provide creative, easy-to-implement ways to integrate health and wellness into afterschool programs, including lesson plans, ideas for field trips and guest speakers, links to funding resources and more.
Afterschool programs are well-positioned to be key partners in comprehensive efforts to ensure healthy futures for our youth.
USDA Nutrition Assistance Programs. The US Department of Agriculture offers three different nutrition assistance programs that can assist afterschool and summer learning providers offer nutritious meals or snacks to participating children. The Summer Food Service Program, Afterschool Snack Program, and Afterschool Meal/Supper Program can be a cost-effective way to ensure children in your program get the healthy food they need to learn and grow. To learn more, visit the USDA and Food Research and Action Center resource websites, or contact the Afterschool Alliance.
News & Research: see recent news and developments in this arena.
Policy Opportunties:
Child Nutrition Reauthorization: Congress is expected to reauthorize the federal child nutrition programs in 2010, a process that could include making changes to the Afterschool Snack Program and the Child and Adult Care Feeding Program (CACFP.) This is an opportunity to expand the federal supper program to all 50 states and the District of Columbia as well as make several other necessary changes to the child nutrition programs that would greatly benefit children in afterschool programs. Read more about the Afterschool Alliance’s child nutrition reauthorization priorities.
Local Wellness Policies: The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 required all local education agencies participating in a federal child nutrition program to establish a local wellness policy by the 2006-2007 school year. While the policies have been created, there is still room for afterschool to get involved, and demonstrate that afterschool programs can be key partners in school districts' health-promotion efforts. The Active Hours Afterschool: Local Wellness Policy Toolkit for Afterschool Programs outlines steps that afterschool advocates can take to get involved in the policy process.
Support legislation in your state: Support policies that promote active and healthy lifestyles for youth. Search the Centers for Disease Control's Nutrition and Physical Activity Legislative Database for summaries of new and existing state-level nutrition and physical activity legislation dating back to 2001.
Join an Action for Healthy Kids State Team: Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK), a nationwide initiative dedicated to improving the health and educational performance of children through better nutrition and physical activity in schools, has created State Teams that are implemeting Action Plans to improve nutrition and physical activity opportunities for youth.
Afterschool Obesity Prevention Agenda: In February 2005, the Afterschool Alliance released its national policy agenda on obesity prevention. The agenda calls for significant investment in afterschool as a way to combat childhood obesity and offers policy suggestions geared toward federal and state policy makers, funders and program leaders.
Making the Case: Use facts and data from Afterschool Alliance Research related to Afterschool and Health to demonstrate the role afterschool programs can play in improving health for children.
Program Ideas & Promising Practices:
Funding:
Private Foundations:
