Activate Upstate in Greenville and Partners for Active Living, Hub City Farmers? Market, in partnership with Spartanburg?s Childhood Obesity Taskforce in Spartanburg, have each been awarded a 4-year $360,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to improve opportunities for physical activity and access to affordable healthy foods for children and families in communities in Greenville and Spartanburg counties. Based on a rigorous selection process that drew more than 500 proposals from across the country, Greenville and Spartanburg Counties are two of 41 sites selected for the RWJF Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities initiative.
This national program advances community-based solutions that will help reverse the childhood obesity epidemic. It focuses on changing policies and environments to support active living and healthy eating among children and families. The program places special emphasis on reaching children who are at highest risk for obesity on the basis of income, race/ethnicity and geographic location. It will support RWJF?s efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States by 2015.
The SC Breastfeeding Coalition, in collaboration with Eat Smart, Move More…SC, recognized the first recipients of the Breastfeeding in the Workplace Pilot Grants for lactation support. The following organizations successfully completed the 2009 Grant Program:
Lander University, Greenwood, SC
Palmetto Health Baptist Easley
Piedmont Medical Center
Each site established a private space for mothers to breastfeed or pump and also developed and adopted a policy in support of breastfeeding employees. We congratulate these workplaces on their support of breastfeeding women returning to work. If you would like more information about how your workplace can be more supportive of breastfeeding, please contact Leslie Myers (lmmyers@lander.edu).
In this workshop, Dr. Jones will explain how policy and environmental change strategies are used to improve community health. She will briefly discuss Options for Action as the strategic framework for obesity prevention in South Carolina. Dr. Jones works with national organizations, state agencies and local efforts to improve health systems and community health.
BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation Awards $478,000 to Eat Smart, Move More SC for Comprehensive Colleton County Obesity Prevention Initiative
Colleton County is ready to Eat Smart, Move More thanks to a $478,000 grant from the BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation. The award will support a two-year, research-based initiative designed to reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity. Eat Smart, Move More SC and the Colleton County community will work together to implement a comprehensive community action plan to promote healthy eating and physical activity in Colleton County. Focusing on multiple settings including childcare, schools, churches, worksites and the community at large, the action plan will serve as a model for communities throughout South Carolina.
In listening to our Partners we know it is often difficult to travel to Columbia for workshops. Eat Smart, Move More SC is piloting a series of webinars this fall to determine if this is an effective way to bring quality information to our members. Please click here to access our first webinar, Advocacy in South Carolina: Be the Change! which took place on Thursday, November 19.
The workshop, presented by Rebecca Ramos of Palmetto Public Affairs, discussed the basics of advocacy and the legislative process as well as the 2010 Legislative Platform for Eat Smart, Move More SC.
Also, please visit our new Training page under our Priority Areas section where we will be storing our future Webinars.
In a state that suffers from one of the highest rates of obesity in the country, ESMMSC and its members have made advocating for an active and healthy South Carolina one of our top priorities. To that end, we surveyed our 650 members around the state. With their advice and recommendations, the board of ESMMSC created its first statewide advocacy agenda.
This agenda will allow ESMMSC to choose wisely how we spend our finite resources and where we focus our advocacy efforts. The goal is not to succeed in passing bills that address all these issues in 2010- that would be unrealistic – but to begin the dialogue on why these issues are important for South Carolinians, start the research and bill drafting to reach these goals, sharpen the advocacy skills and abilities of our members, and to find our legislative champions.
Healthy Carolina is working to increase support for breastfeeding employees and students at the University of South Carolina by implementing a lactation support program. With funding from Eat Smart Move More South Carolina, Healthy Carolina has been able to conduct surveys, focus groups with university employees and students in order to develop and implement a lactation support program. The grand opening of the first of four nursing mother’s lounges was celebrated on Wednesday, October 22nd.
The State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables, 2009 was released today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report summarizes for the first time South Carolina data from multiple sources for fruit and vegetable consumption, as well as policies and environmental supports that can make it easier for SC residents to eat more fruits and vegetables. The State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetable, 2009 is available from CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity.
Looking for another way to encourage Americans to get the physical activity they need based on the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans? If so, consider using the New Be Active Your Way Physical Activity Widget. The Be Active Your Way widget is a quick quiz that instantly provides physical activity tips and recommendations tailored to user goals.
Through a partnership with SC Department of Education and the SC Institute for Childhood Obesity and Related Disorders, Eat Smart, Move More SC has been able to create and air seven Public Service Announcements. Currently, these are running statewide both on TV and radio as part of the SC Broadcasters Association’s NCSA program.
Join Eat Smart, Move More SC for an education forum on obesity prevention in South Carolina. Presented in partnership with several statewide organizations, the event will provide an interactive and engaging look at best practices for obesity prevention with sessions on healthy worksites, schools and communities, grant writing, coalition development, policy and environmental change and more. If you are a professional in the area of public health, healthcare, education, nutrition, physical activity, the media or simply interested in what you can do in your community, plan to attend the 2010 SC Obesity Prevention Summit.
Healthy Carolina is working to increase support for breastfeeding employees and students at the University of South Carolina by implementing a lactation support program. With funding from Eat Smart Move More South Carolina, Healthy Carolina has been able to conduct surveys, focus groups with university employees and students in order to develop and implement a lactation support program. The grand opening of the first of four nursing mother’s lounges was celebrated on Wednesday, October 22nd.
The State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables, 2009 was released today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report summarizes for the first time South Carolina data from multiple sources for fruit and vegetable consumption, as well as policies and environmental supports that can make it easier for SC residents to eat more fruits and vegetables. The State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetable, 2009 is available from CDC’s 
