First Lady Focuses on Childhood Obesity

Caption: The First Lady harvests lettuce from the White House garden with a group of students

Michelle Obama has chosen childhood obesity as her BIG issue. In the next few months, we expect a number of significant announcements, including new policy and funding initiatives for comprehensive obesity prevention efforts. Read more about it HERE.

It's likely that the new initiatives will focus on changing the things that drive individuals' behaviors, including geographic access, cost, public awareness, and city design. One of the new funding initiatives that is set to be announced in February is a set of CDC grants called "Communities Putting Prevention to Work." These will be major grants--on the order of $5 - $10 million each--that will be awarded to roughly 30 communities in the country. St. Louis County Health Department submitted a strong application. Keep your fingers crossed. This will be a phenomenal opportunity for the region if the County is awarded the funds.

The First Lady's new focus is directly in line with Trailnet's approach throughout the St. Louis region. If you haven't yet seen our Healthy, Active & Vibrant Community Toolkit, you should check it out today. The ideas, stories, recommendations, and resources in the Toolkit will likely be echoed nationally in the coming months. Here in the St. Louis region, Trailnet's partner communities of De Soto, Ferguson, and Old North are working diligently to implement many of the ideas in the Toolkit. Their work is paying off because our collective work has been nationally recognized as an "Emerging Intervention" by the University of North Carolina Center for Training and Research Translation.

If you are passionate about improving the livability, health, or vibrancy of your community, take a few minutes to check out the Toolkit. We're proud to be pioneering innovative/effective obesity prevention efforts in St. Louis. Our region has a long way to go, but like all social change, it starts in small pockets and then spreads.