Combating Childhood Obesity: The HOST Coalition

Alliance for a Healthier Generation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)

Childhood obesity is widely recognized as a significant problem in the U.S., where approximately one in three children ages 2 to 19 is overweight or obese. Despite heightened attention to children’s physical fitness, the nation still struggles with reversing this trend. RTI is supporting efforts to implement standards for healthy eating and physical activity that have been adopted by several national after-school programs.

Finding Opportunities in After-School and Other Programs to Promote Healthy Habits

Any push to fight childhood obesity on a national level faces the challenge of reaching millions of diverse children and the adults who care for them.

After-school and other out-of-school time programs offer a promising venue for promoting a healthy lifestyle. Beginning in 2009, some of the nation’s leading providers of after-school care, along with children’s advocacy groups and a handful of researchers, came together to promote healthy eating and physical activity in programs that take place outside of the school day.

Childhood obesity researcher Jean Wiecha, who joined RTI in 2012, was a founding member of this group, now known as the Healthy Out-of-School Time (HOST) Coalition.

Standards for Healthy Eating and Physical Activity in Out-of-School Programs

Drawing on members’ expertise in children’s health and nutrition, along with knowledge of the inner workings of after-school programs, in 2011 the HOST Coalition created a set of standards for after-school programs looking to encourage healthier habits. Shortly thereafter, the standards were adopted by the National AfterSchool Association (NAA), the leading professional organization in the field. The HOST Coalition has since focused on promoting implementation of the standards.

The NAA Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Standards aim to translate science into practical, comprehensive guidance for out-of-school time programs. In addition to describing ideal components of snacks, meals, and physical activity, they describe how to support and sustain healthy environments through additional standards to guide development of program infrastructure.

As programs and institutions across the country adopt the standards, RTI is helping evaluate their efforts. We serve as a third-party evaluator to the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, another nonprofit member of the HOST Coalition that works against childhood obesity with the help of private philanthropies. In FY2015, we evaluated the Alliance’s work in more than 300 programs in eight U.S. communities and the State of Kansas as a whole. With funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we also helped monitor uptake of the standards among NAA members. In addition, we will be documenting efforts to adopt the standards at the National Recreation and Parks Association and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America on behalf of the Partnership for a Healthier America.

Leaders of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation praised us for the scientific rigor and clear communication that are part of our evaluation process. Our partnership helps the Alliance create a quality program and secure funding to reach more children.

“More and more funders are asking for the measure of a program’s impact,” said Anne Ferree, vice president for strategic alliances for the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. “Without that insight into what moves the needle, they would not give as generously, or they might not renew a grant.”

“This is evaluation in its best form,” said Alliance CEO Howell Wechsler, noting that the lucid, insightful style of RTI’s evaluation reports sets us apart from the crowd.

Extending the Reach of HOST Coalition Standards to 5.5 Million U.S. Children

The out-of-school time standards for healthy eating and physical activity developed by the HOST Coalition are already reaching hundreds of thousands of students and are poised to reach even more. The YMCA has been using them since 2011, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the National Recreation and Park Association have committed to adopting organization-specific adaptations of the standards in coming years. By 2020, the combined efforts of these three organizations will mean the standards reach more than 5.5 million children.

As the HOST Coalition and others champion the NAA standards, our team will continue to conduct research and evaluation on their adoption and implementation and actively support national dissemination efforts.

We’re translating science to help providers and communities create healthier environments for kids. Our guidelines go beyond telling programs what food to serve or what active games to play. They help programs make and sustain healthy changes by defining standards for staff training, parent engagement, staff role modeling, and facilities. That’s what makes this exciting.

Jean Wiecha, PhD, Project Director

FY 2015

Fiscal Year 2015 Milestones

With an RWJF grant, produced an issue of New Directions for Youth Development focused on healthy eating and physical activity in out-of-school time
Produced peer-reviewed article in Preventive Medicine showing that about 60 percent of out-of-school time programs in a national sample were familiar with the physical activity standards
As co-chair of the HOST Coalition, worked with leadership team and more than 40 organizations on strategies for dissemination and professional development
Published commentary in Preventive Medicine advocating broad adoption of the standards and further research on their impact on programs and children’s behavior