About California’s Healthy Behaviors Initiative
HBI is Growing!
The number of HBI sites has now grown to 26 throughout California. In 2013 we welcomed 3 new Sacramento START sites in Twin Rivers School District (Del Paso Heights Elementary and Harmon Johnson Elementary) and Sacramento City Unified School District (Abraham Lincoln Elementary).
Existing HBI sites in southern California are:
- A World Fit for Kids! at Frank del Olmo Elementary and Norwood Elementary in Los Angeles
- Institute for Success (ISS) at Wilcox Elementary in Montebello
- Kids Campus Youth Center at Durfee Elementary in El Monte
- LA’s Best at Victory Boulevard Elementary in North Hollywood
- Success Through Academics and Recreation (STAR) at Jefferson Elementary in Paramount
- THINK Together at Tracy Elementary in Baldwin Park
- Village Extended School Program (VESP) at Plymouth Elementary in Monrovia
- Woodcraft Rangers at San Antonio Elementary in Huntington Park
- Butte COE After Schools at Central Middle School in Oroville
- CalSERVES at Kawana Elementary and Taylor Mountain Elementary in Santa Rosa
- Fitness 4 Life at Watsonville High School (K-8 students), Cesar Chavez Middle School and Starlight Elementary in Watsonville
- Fresno FRESH at Madison Elementary in Fresno
- Mt. Diablo CARES at El Monte Elementary in Concord and Riverview Middle School in Bay Point
- Safe Education and Recreation for Rural Families (SERRF) at Antelope Elementary in Red Bluff
- San Francisco ExCEL at E.R. Taylor Elementary and Sunset Elementary in San Francisco
- Shasta COE Project Share at North Woods Discovery Charter School in Redding
- YMCA of Silicon Valley at Pomeroy Elementary in Santa Clara
The Healthy Behaviors Initiative addresses serious health problems facing students in low-income communities throughout California and most at risk of obesity. Through its work, Healthy Behaviors is demonstrating the important role that afterschool programs can play in addressing the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States.
The Healthy Behaviors Initiative was launched in 2004 by the Center for Collaborative Solutions (CCS) in partnership with the California Department of Public Health’s (CDPH) Network for a Healthy California in response to alarming childhood obesity rates–and the associated health, financial and societal impacts–and to take advantage of the unprecedented opportunity to reach children through afterschool programs.
Under the Healthy Behaviors Initiative, afterschool programs have been transformed into environments that support and encourage healthy behaviors. As part of this initiative, CCS created and offered the afterschool community a guide to Developing Exemplary Practices in Nutrition, Physical Activity and Food Security in Afterschool Programs, that has been tested and implemented by learning communities of multi-site afterschool programs performing outstanding work in nutrition and/or physical activity. Program sites implementing the Practices at an exemplary level are now certified as Healthy Behaviors Learning Centers. The Centers—currently established at 26 afterschool program sites in low-income communities across the state—coach and support other programs in their regions with resources and tools inspired by the Practices that result in healthier behaviors among their students and help reverse the childhood obesity trend.
Changing Lives, Saving Lives: A Step by Step Guide to Developing Exemplary Practices in Healthy Eating, Physical Activity and Food Security in Afterschool Programs (March 2010) has replaced the original Exemplary Practices Guide. It provides user-friendly guidance to implementing the practices based on the Healthy Behaviors Learning Centers’ experiences.
Through the Healthy Behaviors Initiative, afterschool programs are demonstrating they have a measurable impact on the health and well being of low-income families throughout California, can be a driving force in improving children’s eating habits and fitness levels, and provide a key to reversing the devastating childhood obesity trend. It will continue its important work so that all afterschool programs can access knowledge and resources to better address the serious health issues their students face and make a difference in their lives. CCS and our Healthy Behaviors Learning Centers continue to partner with regional and state organizations to promote state and federal policies to strengthen the role of afterschool programs in addressing the childhood obesity crisis, and develop additional resources and tools for afterschool programs that want to improve their nutrition, physical activity, and food security practices.
The Healthy Behaviors Initiative has been made possible by funding from The California Endowment, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the CDPH Network for a Healthy California through funds from the USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly the Food Stamp Program). Healthy Behaviors is an initiative of the Center for Collaborative Solutions.
