We Can! In Action eNewsletter - Winter 2008 Issue

We Can!™ is here to help you kick your year off right with inspiring stories from community sites, new We Can! resources, and tips to help you stay active and healthy in the cold weather. Read on to learn about exciting events, new partners, and tips for making sure that the We Can! Parent Program is working for you.

In November 2007, We Can! held a media event at the Boston Children’s Museum, with simultaneous events held in eight other cities. Acting U.S. Surgeon General Rear Admiral Steven K. Galson was in attendance to discuss We Can!’s inclusion in the HHS Childhood Overweight and Obesity Prevention Initiative. Read more.

In fall 2007, We Can! hosted two regional trainings that helped the movement grow: over 250 people attended, and over 75 new sites signed up in the following weeks. Read more.

We Can! has been busy creating materials and resources to better serve community sites.

Based on feedback, the Parent Program was revised with two new resources. The new We Can! Energize our Families: Parent Program Leader’s Guide has been reduced from six sessions to four and improved with lessons learned from the Founding Intensive Sites’ programming. You can order the new Leader’s Guide (Item # 08-5850,/ea) from the NHLBI online catalog or download a PDF version at no charge.

The program also created the new We Can!Energize our Families: Family Guide, which is perfect for your program participants to use for home study in between sessions. The new Family Guide is also available for online ordering (Item # 08-5839,/ea) or download at no charge.

In addition, remember to check out the updated GO, SLOW, WHOA Foods chart, which includes new foods based on HHS/USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005; two audio news releases; and new matte release articles—prewritten stories with graphics for use by newspapers or community organizations to communicate program messages.

We Can! also launched a new networking and learning opportunity for community sites—Power Talks. The first Power Talk was held in December and focused on the topic, “Getting Started with the Parent Program.” Check the We Can! calendar to get more information about the next scheduled Power Talk.

The We Can! movement is growing fast! The program was in nearly 550 communities across the country and around the world.

In addition, several cities have recently become official We Can! Cities. Boston, Massachusetts; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania were all designated as We Can! Cities during the November press events. They join Armstrong County, Pennsylvania; Carson City, Nevada; Gary, Indiana; Roswell, Georgia; and South Bend, Indiana.

We Can! has also expanded internationally. There are now thirteen community sites in nine locations outside the United States: Australia, Canada, Greece, India, the Northern Mariana Islands, Nigeria, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Uganda.

We Can! has also been reaching communities through leading health conferences. Last September, Karen Donato, S.M., We Can! Program Officer, and Kathy Cunningham, the We Can! Intensive Community Site leader from the Boston Steps program of the Boston Public Health Commission, co-presented the program to more than 400 dietitians at the American Dietetic Association annual meeting.

In November, Ms. Donato joined Marianne Glass Miller of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to co-present We Can! at the American Public Health Association annual conference.

In late fall 2007, We Can! had a booth at the Marine Corps Marathon Fun Run for kids. The Fun Run attracted 3,000 kids, plus their parents, who visited the We Can! exhibit area before and after the run. Everyone enjoyed receiving We Can! giveaways and taking Portion Distortion quizzes.

We Can! is proud to be working with more than 30 national and corporate partners, including two new partners: The H.J. Heinz Company, who will be distributing We Can! resources to employees and the community, and Delaware Physicians Care, Inc., who distributed We Can! resources to employees and implemented a We Can! and CATCH! Kids Club initiative for community members.

We Can! is in discussion with the National Black Nurses Association (NBNA) about partnership opportunities. NBNA recently printed an article announcing the partnership in its newsletter, which is distributed quarterly to its 3,000 members.

Read more about these partners’ We Can! activities and learn how to become a We Can! partner.