Healthy Together for Childcare Centers and Out-of-School Programs
Nearly 1 in 4 children under age 5 are regularly cared for at a day care center, nursery or preschool. With so many children in non-family childcare, childcare providers have a unique opportunity to help raise a healthier generation of kids. In addition, where kids spend time when they’re not in school or with their families can have a major impact on the habits they build. Out-of-school programs have a unique opportunity to reinforce healthy behaviors that will last a lifetime.
Led by Atrium Health’s Levine Children’s Hospital, Healthy Together has the tools you need to create a positive environment for kids, from snack ideas to policy change. With comprehensive support, the program is designed to be easy to weave into your existing structure. And no matter what type of program you’re running, we make it easy to get “Healthy Together!”
Program Overview
We use evidence-based strategies to improve the policies, practices and environments that influence healthy eating and active living in childcare and out-of-school environments.
The Healthy Together program promotes following the 5-2-1-0 model daily: 5 or more servings of fruits and veggies, 2 hours or less of recreational screen time, 1 hour or more of physical activity and 0 sugary drinks.
Once you become a registered site, you’ll have access to resources and support that make implementing Healthy Together (and 5-2-1-0) at your childcare center simple – and fun!
- Engage with and commit to the program.
- Assess the environment and create an action plan.
- Implement the action plan.
- Complete the Healthy Together survey.
- Celebrate!
- Reflecting on their nutrition and physical activity environment and make changes to support healthy behaviors in students
- Encouraging healthy eating in students by providing appropriate foods and beverages, and role modeling healthy eating behaviors
- Increasing opportunities for physical activity
- Reaching out to parents to promote healthy behaviors at home
- Promoting the 5-2-1-0 model
- Working toward stronger district wellness policies
- Personalized help to meet your school’s unique nutrition and physical activity goals
- A free toolkit loaded with resources for both your staff and your families
- Opportunities for free training for you and staff members
- Regular communications from Healthy Together
- Opportunities to network with other sites across the region, just like yours, working to improve the health of our children
- Setting nutrition and physical activity goals and then working toward achieving them
- Completing the Healthy Together survey each spring
Healthy Together team roles
It takes a committed team to make Healthy Together a success, and we’re here to support you as you work toward your goals. These are the roles and responsibilities of each Healthy Together team member.
The Program Coordinator is located at Atrium Health in Charlotte, NC. They handle logistics for Healthy Together.
The Program Coordinator is responsible for:
- Overseeing all Healthy Together sites across the Atrium Health footprint
- Developing and maintaining frameworks for multiple counties
- Establishing and maintaining partners who can implement the Healthy Together model locally
- Creating and managing annual evaluation activities and data collection
- Creating and managing program tools and resources, including toolkits, e-newsletters, the website and trainings
- Recruiting and training Setting Leads
- Communicating with Setting Leads and Site Champions regularly
- Providing technical assistance to Setting Leads
The Setting Lead is responsible for all of Healthy Together’s school-based sites in a given county. They work directly with Site Champions and their teams. The Setting Lead is the Site Champion’s local Healthy Together contact.
The Setting Lead is responsible for:
- Registering sites to participate in the Healthy Together program designed for their designated setting
- Working with a Site Champion to go through the Healthy Together 5-Step Path to Success, helping to change a site’s environment and policies to support healthy behaviors
- Connecting Site Champions to healthy eating and active living resources in the community
- Communicating, training and supporting evaluation activities
Every Healthy Together registered school has a Site Champion to lead their school through the 5-Step Path to Success. The Site Champion is someone who’s at the school daily, and who knows and can help influence the school’s healthy eating and physical activity practices.
The Site Champion is responsible for:
- Signing up their school with the local Healthy Together Setting Lead, being listed as the Healthy Together Site Champion and giving their contact information
- Reviewing the Healthy Together Action Planning Packet each year with their team and determining what their school wants to achieve
- Ensuring that parents, administrators and all staff are aware of and, if possible, included in the work
- Sharing the 5-2-1-0 message and Healthy Together resources with parents and staff
- Reaching out to the Healthy Together Program Coordinator with any questions, challenges or successes they come across in their efforts to increase healthy eating and physical activity
- Completing the Healthy Together survey each spring with the assistance of their team
Recognition program
At Healthy Together, we believe in celebrating every step you take toward increased healthy eating and active living, big or small. There’s no need to wait until a goal is fully achieved before recognizing progress. Celebrate, then keep on going!
Our recognition program is designed to provide consistent standards for being a Healthy Together Recognized Site, and to move sites toward lasting change. There are 3 recognition levels, and each level has a theme.
Healthy Together recognition levels
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Bronze Level = Implementation
The Bronze Level is all about making changes in your daily practices and environment. This is done by implementing the 5 priority strategies, which:
- Takes the first step toward supporting healthy behaviors
- Makes it easy and natural for kids to make healthy choices
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Silver Level = Communication
The Silver Level is about communicating with families. It’s important to engage families as you change your daily practices and environment. When you bring families into the conversation, it:
- Allows them to be advocates
- Encourages them to role model the same practices at home
- Increases accountability
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Gold Level = Policy
The Gold Level is about putting the changes you’ve made into policy. This helps build a healthy environment that will last through the years. Setting a clear district wellness policy can help you:
- Ensure staff and parents understand the expectations around health and wellness
- Give staff consistent guidelines to refer to
- Provide children with a healthy environment
We know it takes a lot of work to make it to any recognition level. Regardless of formal recognition, we think your site is awesome!
Our Childcare partners
Our community partners include:
- Anson Children and Families
- Eat Smart, Move More York County
- South Carolina First Steps
Participating childcare centers
Anson:
- Anson Children’s Center
- Central Center for Children and Families
- Morven Head Start
- Open Doors Center for Children
Our Out-of-School partners
Our community partners include:
- Cabarrus Health Alliance
Participating out-of-school programs
Cabarrus:
- Big Brothers Big Sisters
- Discovery Day Camp (Cabarrus County Active Living and Parks)
- YMCA West Cabarrus
Contact Us
Are you interested in bringing Healthy Together to your school? For more information, please send us an email.
Email Healthy Together