August 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 24

Who, What, Where & how Around the Parks

activity field " what we can do to get kids
outside and get them active. For example,
we've paired up with the United States
Tennis Association, which has committed
to either renovating or building 3,000 kidsized tennis courts around the country.
What are the barriers you face in
addressing physical activity?
There are four barriers: inspiration, access, programming, and infrastructure.
When I grew up, we didn't really need to
be inspired to go outside. What motivates
kids to stay inside are things like video
games. That's why we work with celebrities-the NHL, NBA,USTA, Disney. Our
spokespeople are leaders who say, " Hey!
You need to get 60 minutes of physical activity a day! "
■■ Access-How we resolve that barrier

People weren't talking
about childhood
obesity, and they are
now. They are voicing
their opinions, and we
are seeing a change.
could be addressing public transportation. Do you have it? Or even know about it?
We're working with various organizations
for dealing with this.
■■ Programming-A lot has changed in
30 years. As a parent of two young kids, I
don't want to send them to a park by themselves unless I can be sure there is some
kind of programming there. So how do
we increase programming? Again, sports
leagues and other organizations can help
by increasing the number of free clinics or
providing other programming.

■■ Infrastructure-The lack of it can be a
barrier. That's why we work with organizations such as USTA.

How can parks at all levels get involved
with Let's Move?
It's like matchmaking. You all have incredible assets, for a variety of reasons.
Mayors know they need to improve the
health of their communities. Your organization has great programming and
you know how to do things. We know nobody's getting new money anymore, so
how do we work with people we never
worked with before?-faith organizations,
for example, that may run day-care centers and really want to get their kids outside, but don't have a playground. Could
they work with a city or county or state
park to provide this service?
It seems like we have to be more creative to make that happen. We believe
our Let's Move Cities & Towns initiative
and our Faith initiative and working with
schools can do this. So, perhaps there are
ways to do matchmaking.
Do you think you've moved the needle in
fighting childhood obesity?
Definitely, yes. When we had our first
anniversary in February, we had seen
commitments from the private sector.
Walmart, with 140 million customers, has
made a commitment to reformulate their
products and prices-that's huge.
People weren't talking about childhood obesity, and they are now. They are
voicing their opinions, and we are seeing a change. We won't know the impact
on children's health and obesity rates
until the CDC [Centers for Disease Control] is back in the field. We know [Let's
Move!] is going to move us in the right
direction. We won't know that impact for
many years. But, yes, the conversation
has changed and people are stepping
up. It's really, really exciting.
-Interview by Phil Hayward,
Editor, Parks & Recreation

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