About Shaping America’s Youth

What’s Being Done to Promote Physical Activity and Healthy Weight

Shaping America’s Youth is a nationwide initiative to identify and centralize information on what is being done throughout all sectors of American society to reverse the rapidly increasing prevalence of overweight and inactivity among children and adolescents.

Excessive weight in these age groups has reached epidemic levels. The health consequences for our children, both now and in the future, as well as the health costs of this epidemic are staggering. Widespread efforts are underway throughout the public and private sectors to develop effective means of combating these conditions in young people.

The first phase of Shaping America’s Youth will obtain data from over 1,000 parties through a cross-sector survey that will identify current programs and efforts to understand and address the problem of sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy diets of America’s children. This information will be summarized and included in a national database. Availability of this information in a single registry will help enable all interested parties–including, but not limited to, health professionals, government agencies, educators, corporations, foundations and the general public–to focus funding, research and interventions where they are most needed, most promising and/or most effective.

With the support of Nike and McNeil Nutritionals, and the involvement of the Office of the United States Surgeon General and the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Diabetes Association, American Obesity Association and Kaiser Permanente, Shaping America’s Youth is creating a comprehensive registry of funding sources, ongoing research, and intervention programs to increase physical activity and healthy eating among children and adolescents. The registry will encompass the efforts of federal and state governments, health and education organizations, and the private sector, including both for-profit and non-profit entities.

An advisory committee comprising national leaders and experts in childhood and adolescent health, education, nutrition, physical activity, urban design, recreation and other fields, will review the information for completion and accuracy, as well as its relevance and credibility against the defined objectives of the Shaping America’s Youth initiative. Once all entities have responded to a survey regarding their efforts, a summary document will be issued. The summary and searchable database derived from the survey will serve as a focus to build partnerships, implement strategies, and improve coordination of our nation’s effort. Shaping America’s Youth is being developed and directed by Academic Network, LLC, a health communications company based in Portland, Oregon.