Active Kids, Healthy Community

The latest desert that District residents must contend with doesn't involve food, but instead exercise. The Active Kids, Healthy Community initiative has created maps that detail the lack of safe spaces for physical activity by ward.

Active Kids, Healthy Community is making news! Advocates for Better Children's Diets President Nancy Chapman MPH RD wrote a published letter to the editor in The Washington Post, " D.C. youths need safe places to play close to their homes."

One of our partners, Nancy Chapman MPH RD of Advocates for Better Children's Diets, was featured as as a newsmaker on Comcast.

Our friends at Safe Routes to School National Partnership provide back-to-school resources to make sure that our schools stay active places with shared use agreements.

The design and maintenance of neighborhoods, streets, and parks, and people's perceptions of those places based on qualities such as aesthetic appeal and perceived safety, can affect physical activity in youth and adults.

Obesity can have serious ramifications for kids' cognitive development and affect school attendance. Because children spend so much time at school, schools have a unique opportunity to help children become more healthy and active.