Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC): A powerful partnership to confront a complex public health problem

The Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC; www.clocc.net) is a nationally recognized childhood obesity prevention consortium comprised of hundreds of organizations working together to prevent and control childhood obesity. CLOCC is housed at Children's Memorial Hospital and is the primary advocacy and community-outreach arm of the hospital's efforts to address obesity. The Consortium's 3,000 members represent over 1,200 organizations; most of which are located in Chicago. In addition to network building and coordination, CLOCC prioritizes environmental change, community capacity development, and public education. CLOCC's members help provide direction to the Consortium through six working groups, including healthy communities, school systems, and government programs and policies. Working group members provide expertise to the Consortium and generate ideas for intervention strategies that lead to change in their contexts of focus. CLOCC's widespread public education campaign, 5-4-3-2-1 Go!, disseminates information about healthy lifestyles for children and families. Concentrated work in 10 Chicago neighborhoods supports healthy eating and physical activity through environmental and community change. Consortium staff and partners advocate for city, state, and federal policy that positively influences institutions and communities. CLOCC provides information, training and resources to partners through a variety of mechanisms that include an award-winning website, a weekly e-letter, meetings, conferences, grant programs, and workshops. This paper will describe the partnership-oriented processes and structures that have helped CLOCC to remain a vibrant, growing, and increasingly recognized consortium that works locally but has influence nationally. Lessons will be shared about partnership, multi-sector intervention development, community and environmental change.