Resourceful Websites <updated 02.26.08>:
California Center for Physical Activity | California Center for Public Health Advocacy
California Nutrition Network | California Obesity Prevention Plan
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | Childhood Matters with Rona Renner, RN
Digital Clubhouse Network | DOOF | Early Nutrition and Physical Activity Resource | Farm to School Resource | Fit Source | Food and Nutrition Information Center | Healthy Dining Finder | Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health | Mo' Better Food | Nuestros Niños | Prevention Institute | Project LEAN | Public Health Institute Strategic Alliance | UC Berkeley | USDA Local Wellness Policy

BMSG works with community groups, journalists and public health professionals to use the power of the media to advance healthy public policy. In essence, BMSG helps people make their voices heard in a powerful public forum, and increase their participation in the democratic process.

To do this BMSG must understand how news, entertainment, and advertising present health and social issues. Thus BMSG does research by monitoring the media, studying the process of news gathering, and analyzing media content to support our media advocacy training, professional education, and strategic consultation.

California Center for Physical Activity
www.caphysicalactivity.org
The Walk Kit prepared by the California Center for Physical Activity is now available at: www.caphysicalactivity.org – go to News & Events – Walk Kit

The Walk Kit includes essential information for starting walking groups, including:

• How to organize a walking group, including logistics, promotion, orientation, sustainability and evaluation;

• Building advocacy for policy and infrastructure change;

• Conducting a walkability workshop.

The guide also includes case studies on promoting walking groups in special populations and features resources such as a sample press release, walkability checklist, stretching routine, walk log and evaluation.

California Center for Public Health Advocacy
www.publichealthadvocacy.org/policy_briefs/overweight2004.html
The California Center for Public Health Advocacy posted several new resources related to their August 2005 study, The Growing Epidemic: Childhood Overweight Rates on the Rise in California Assembly Districts.  The new resources augment the information on California Assembly Districts that were released in August.  These new resources include:

• County fact sheets

• Senate fact sheets

• Map describing childhood overweight rates in California counties

• Map describing childhood overweight rates in Senate Districts

These materials are available at www.publichealthadvocacy.org/policy_briefs/overweight2004.html. The Website also includes overweight rates for some 300 cities and communities and for counties.

The California Center for Public Health Advocacy developed Healthy Food, Healthy Communities: Making It Happen in California, a set of five fact sheets as part of its work with the Network.  The fact sheets are designed for Regional Nutrition Network collaboratives, collaborative members, Local Initiative Awardees (LIAs) and other partners.  The fact sheets which are posted on the Center’s Website at www.publichealthadvocacy.org/cnn.html include:

• Promotional Messages and Concepts about Nutrition Systems and Environmental Change

• Making Healthy Food Choices in My Neighborhood

• How Healthy is Your Neighborhood Food Environment?

• Who Decides If I Can Make Healthy Food Choices in My Neighborhood

• Strategies to Improve Access to Healthy Food: Action for Change

California Nutrition Network
www.dhs.ca.gov/cpns

California Obesity Prevention Plan
www.dhs.ca.gov/CAObesityPrevention
California has released its Obesity Prevention Plan!  Here is the link to California Obesity Prevention Plan: A Vision for Tomorrow, Strategic Actions for Today.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
www.cdc.gov
Site includes School Health Index - http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/shi/.

Early Nutrition and Physical Activity Resource
Download PDF.

Farm to School Resource
Download PDF.

Fit Source
www2.nccic.org/fitsource/
Site links child care and after-school providers to a wide variety of physical activity and nutrition resources.  You will find links to activities, lesson plans, healthy recipes, information for parents, and many other downloadable tools that can be used to incorporate physical activity and nutrition into child care and after-school programs.

Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC)
www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/resource_lists.shtml
The FNIC has recently updated several resource lists, including Cultural and Ethnic Food and Nutrition Education Materials: A Resource List for Educators 2008.  These are available in PDF from FNIC’s Website.

Healthy Dining Finder
www.healthydiningfinder.com/demo/
New site for looking up healthy restaurants.

• Lucille Packard Foundation offers data about the health and well being of children in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, including physical fitness and weight-related data.  We soon will expand www.kidsdata.org to serve the Bay Area.  Download flier for more information about kidsdata.  The site offers data on roughly 200 indicators of child well being; some data are at the city or school district level.  The foundation is underwriting the cost of this expansion, which is slated to launch this fall.  Briefings for each county will be held on the following dates:
  Alameda County, Tuesday, September 18th: http://www.kidsdata.org/alamedarsvp.jsp
  Marin County, Wednesday, September 19th: http://www.kidsdata.org/marinrsvp.jsp
  San Francisco, Thursday, September 27th: http://www.kidsdata.org/sfrsvp.jsp
  An additional event will be held in Contra Costa County, but the date is not yet set.

• As part of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital's Center for Healthy Weight, the Pediatric Weight Control Program offers two age-specific programs in English and Spanish for children ages 8-12 and teens ages 13-15 and their parents.  More than 80% of participating children achieve long-term weight loss and parents lose weight too.  We are currently signing up new families for our groups starting in September.  Please contact Program Director, Cindy Zedeck at 650.725.4424 for more information or download the program flier.

Prevention Institute
www.preventioninstitute.org
Site includes the ENACT community assessment tool and policy information.

Project LEAN
www.californiaprojectlean.org/
Site includes policy recommendations for schools and youth.

Public Health Institute
www.phi.org/library.html
Site includes school policy briefs.

Strategic Alliance
www.eatbettermovemore.org
Site includes "Taking Action for a Healthier California" policy recommendations.

UC Berkeley
www.cnr.berkeley.edu/cwh/activities/LEAF.shtml
UC Berkeley Report Evaluates Implementation of Landmark Legislation that Established Nutrition Standards for School Foods and Beverages.  Visit Website above for the full report.

USDA - Local Wellness Policy
www.fns.usda.gov/tn/Healthy/wellnesspolicy.html
Site includes sample school wellness policies and educational resources.