Healthy You/Working on Wellness Online Toolkit
According to the Centers for Disease Control, obesity now affects 17% of all children and adolescents in the United States – three times the rate from just one generation ago. First Lady Michelle Obama brought national attention to the problem by coordinating a national movement aimed at ensuring the health of the nation's children through proper nutrition and physical activity. Public television programs such as Sesame Street and Arthur also incorporate healthy habits messaging into their program strategy.
Communities, public and private health officials around the country are spearheading local child obesity efforts.
The topic of child obesity and child health are appropriate matches for public broadcasters because of the strong connection between public broadcasters and families, and because of the strong educational mission of public television.
Healthy You/Working on Wellness are separate but coordinated projects which work together in a regional way, but separately in their own communities to educate families about maintaining healthy body weight, nutrition and physical activity
Healthy You (WXXI) and Working on Wellness (WSKG) are CPB-funded local service initiatives which use significant community and public broadcasting partnerships to impact the health of upstate New York’s kids and families. Because the three communities involved in this project identified child obesity as a major public health problem, WXXI, WSKG and Vegas PBS chose to focus on that issue. However the ideas and resources in this toolkit can be adapted toward other public health issues and work particularly well with health issues where prevention, awareness and behavior change are key components of the community effort.
This toolkit is designed as a guide for public broadcasting stations who want to address similar health issues in their local community.
To get started, download the Toolkit Guide and then use the links and resources on the following pages as a guide for creating a family health initiative in your local community.
Station Project Contacts: