2010-2012 Strategic Focus Areas

Fit for Kansas Kids: Calling Communities to Action

Efforts to reduce rising obesity rates among our children have met more failure than success to date. However, there is evidence that early prevention measures may hold the key to achieving reductions in childhood obesity and its numerous and severe resulting health problems. At the conceptual level, the solutions are beautifully simple: children need to have opportunities to be more physically active and enjoy healthful food choices. But the details of building those nurturing environments are complex, the barriers are often high, and success will require the contributions of all sectors of our society.

One focus of Health Fund grants under this strategic area is supporting families, communities, and agencies throughout Kansas in creating environments that encourage young children to be physically active and eat healthful, nutritious foods from birth onwards. The Fund has chosen to support four important actions Kansans can take for the healthy development of our young children:

• Encouraging physical activity and outdoor play
• Nurturing healthful food choices
• Limiting screen time (television, computers, etc.)
• Improving breastfeeding rates and duration

We are looking to community collaborations, child-serving agencies, health care professionals, parent groups, and other groups interested in putting these actions to work in Kansas. Please see the current Fit for Kansas Kids Request for Proposals (RFP) for information on how we can work together to prevent early childhood obesity and give our children a healthy start to life. The deadline for Fit for Kansas Kids proposals is September 30, 2010.

A news release with background information on our 2010-2012 focus areas is available here.