August 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 23

P U B L I C H E A LT H

Let's Move! Gets Moving
The anti-obesity program enters its second year

obamafoodarama blogspot

hen childhood obesity first began to be
recognized as a national epidemic, First
Lady Michelle Obama
became an early player in the effort to
eliminate this public health scourge. In
February 2010, Obama announced the
launch of Let's Move!, an initiative dedicated to solving the challenge of childhood
obesity within a generation. Her program
combines comprehensive strategies with
common-sense approaches in order to
put children on the path to a healthy future during their earliest months and
years. Let's Move! aims to provide parents with helpful information while fostering environments that support healthy
choices, as well as providing healthier
foods in schools, ensuring families access to healthy, affordable food, and helping kids become more physically active.
The program tasks all Americans to play
a role-parents, elected officials from all
levels of government, schools, health care
professionals, faith-based and community-based organizations, and private sector companies.
Her initiative got off to a solid start when
President Barack Obama established the
Task Force on Childhood Obesity to develop and implement an inter-agency plan
to tackle the problem. The goal of the action plan is to reduce the childhood obesity rate to just 5 percent by 2030-the
same rate before childhood obesity first
began to rise in the late 1970s. In total, the
report presents a series of 70 specific recommendations, many of which can be immediately implemented.
Let's Move! is divided into six subinitiatives: Chefs Move to Schools, Let's
Move Faith and Communities, Let's Move
Outside, Let's Move! in Indian Country,
Let's Move! Child Care, and Let's Move!

in the Clinic.
To administer the program, the First
Lady tapped long-time political strategist Robin Schepper to serve as executive director. In the following interview,
Schepper discusses the progress and
challenges Let's Move! has seen as it enters its second year.
How has Let's Move changed or evolved
since it began in 2010?
It hasn't changed, but it keeps on growing. Our Let's Move Cities & Towns subinitiative is a good way for city, state, and
regional parks to get involved. We have
over 600 mayors who have signed on for
the Let's Move Cities & Towns-which
means they'll make policy changes. So
there are people who are self-selected
who have decided that they want to do
something. Parks could work with them
to increase the physical activity of kids.
We just launched a Let's Move initiative in Indian country doing this and we
also have Let's Move Faith and Communities for faith leaders and their

communities-meaning YMCAs, 4-H,
Scouts. They make commitments in the
congregations and community organizations to walk three million miles and
commit to 10,000 gardens or community centers.
The one I think is really exciting for
what you all do is Let's Move Outside-
how we get more kids outside.
How do you do that?
The federal government has assets, like
the National Park Service, U.S. Forest
Service, Army Corps of Engineers, that
we've been trying to highlight to get more
kids outside-through our website (www.
letsmove.gov) and zip code locators for
locating things you can do.
Then we are asking the " physical

www.NRPA .ORG

AUGUST 2011

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August 2011 - Parks & Recreation

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