Nominate your Physical Activity Programs

Are you implementing Peaceful Playgrounds or WE Count? Have they made a difference in getting your students physically active? If so, you might want to consider working with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the CDC in allowing them to collect data on your school's program/s.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the CDC are seeking nominations for programs or policies that fall into the following 3 areas: 1) comprehensive school physical activity programs, 2) after school/daycare programs addressing obesity, and 3) increasing access to fresh foods in low SES inner city communities.

As the search for answers to effectively address childhood obesity continues, organizations and communities across the country are experimenting with various strategies aimed at changing children’s environments to reduce the incidence of obesity. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Division of Adolescent and School Health, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, Prevention Research Centers Program Office, and the CDC Foundation are undertaking a 2-year collaborative project to identify and assess local-level programs and policies that have been implemented with apparent notable success to improve the eating habits and physical activity levels of children. Macro International Inc. serves as the coordinating center for the project.

The goal of this project is to conduct evaluability assessments, which are "pre" evaluations to determine if a prhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifogram is promising and ready for a more rigorous full evaluation. The first round of evaluability assessments is currently underway and we are preparing for the second round. Similar to the first round, we will be aiming to conduct 10 assessments in each of the topic areas.

A program that has not been rigorously evaluated can be considered for an evaluability assessment. Once a nominated program is chosen by our Expert Panel, the evaluability assessment consists of a 3-day site visit where trained project staff assess program implementation, data collection, and program outcomes. As part of the site visit, a limited amount of on-site technical assistance will be provided to each site.

The submission deadline is Friday, October 26, 2007.

For additional information and nomination form please contact Nicola Dawkins, Ph.D. by e-mail at or by phone at 404-321-3211.