Taking Steps to Healthy Success: a Child Care Learning Collaborative to Promote Healthy

Taking Steps to Healthy Success: A Child Care Learning Collaborative to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity

Dear Child Care Administrator;

We would like to invite you to join us! Together we can help our children reach their potential by sharing ways to eat healthier, move more and grow up healthy and ready to learn!

Nemours and the Indiana Association for Child Care Resource and Referral (IACCRR) invite you to be a part of the upcoming cohort of the Early Care and Education Learning Collaborative (ECELC). Your participation in this project will inform research that will impact future effort around healthy eating and physical activity across Indiana and the nation.

The 2015-2016 Cohort of Taking Steps to Healthy Success will have four distinct groups. All participating programs in all four groups will receive an incentive of $250 for completing the requirements of their group.

·  Group 1 will attend 5 full day learning sessions, and receive approximately 20 hours of on-site technical assistance and a full cadre of resources to support their learning around child health and obesity prevention.

·  Group 2 will attend 5 full day learning session and receive a full cadre of printed resources to support their learning around child health and obesity prevention.

·  Group 3 will receive approximately 20 hours of on-site technical assistance and printed resources to support their learning around child health and obesity prevention.

·  Group 4 is our control group and will not attend training sessions or receive technical assistance, or any printed materials.

All four groups will complete both the Lets Move Child Care (LMCC) and Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care(NAP SACC) assessments at the beginning of the project and again at the end of the time frame. BMI data will be collected from children ages 2-5 in the participating programs at least once, and possibly twice over the course of the program. IACCRR staff and an evaluation team will collect the data in a secure and non-invasive manner, with parent permission.

What is the ECELC? It is a learning community that learns together and shares ideas for best practices; then you take what you have learned and try some of those best practices out in your program. Those chosen to participate will identify a leadership team. The leadership team will consist of three staff members representing different areas of the program. They will have opportunities to learn, use new tools, share experiences and build a wider network of support. The collaborative is designed to equip staff with the knowledge and skills to develop and implement healthy eating and physical activity policies and practices. If selected for group 1, 2 or 3, we ask you to commit to five learning sessions and/or significant time for technical assistance with your coach, as well as to share information and ideas with staff through training between learning sessions. Learning Sessions will take place October through May. Technical assistance will occur between October 2015 and June 2016. Your requirements and time commitment will vary depending on which group your program is assigned to.

If you are ready to join us in the Taking Steps to Healthy Success Learning Collaborative, please return the application form by mail, fax, or email to Marta Fetterman, . We will be in contact with you to share more information with you about the project as we make our final plans. We are excited to begin this healthy eating and physical activity adventure as we work together increase the health of Indiana’s children.

Sincerely,

Lisa Henley Marta Fetterman

Director of Child Well Being State Project Coordinator

IACCRR 3901 North Meridian Street, Suite 200 Indianapolis, IN 46208