Gaining traction: What New Hampshire has done to move the needle on childhood obesity

The NH CATCH Kids Club (CKC) project is an initiative that aims to increase physical activity and healthy eating in the out-of-school setting. Aligned with NH's statewide initiative, NH Healthy Eating Active Living (NH HEAL), its goals are to increase the number of out-of-school organizations that: 1) include healthy eating and physical activity in organizational goals; 2) adopt physical activity and healthy eating policies; 3) offer at least 15-20 minutes of daily physical activity; 4) offer healthy snacks. To provide organizations with a comprehensive and sustainable approach, we utilized both the out-of-school CKC program and the NH After School Environment and Policy Assessment (NHASEPA) to help sites meet project goals. Results: In five years, CKC reached 108 sites representing 9 out of 10 counties in NH. Fifty-three trainings were completed, 919 staff were trained, and 29 CKC trainers were developed. From 2010-12, the NHASEPA was utilized with a subset of 25 sites. Of these, 92% made 4+ environmental or policy improvements. The greatest improvements were seen in: 1) Inclusion of physical activity and healthy eating in organizational goals; 2) implementation of inclusive, non-elimination physical activity; 3) adoption of healthy snack policies; 4) non-educational screen time discouraged. Policy and practice changes resulted in increases physical activity time. Our evaluation demonstrated that most project sites offer CKC games at least 25-30 minutes 3 to 5 days/week. Summary: Through training and technical assistance, sites can effectively assess their environments, set measureable goals, and develop strategies that result in increases in activity time.