Let’s Move Mid-Atlantic Summit
Posted by Anne Sheridan on Friday, June 24, 2011
Since First Lady Michelle Obama put her considerable stature, talent and personality behind her signature Let’s Move campaign, we’ve all been learning how we can help to raise a healthier generation of kids.
And that’s great, because to us here at Share Our Strength, the first step in a healthier generation means surrounding children with adequate nutrition where they live, learn and play.
This week the Let’s Move campaign was on the road with the first in a series of regional summits convening activists, organizers, nutritionists, educators, sports and exercise experts, nutrition program administrators, and child care providers. Several hundred Let’s Move supporters gathered for several days in Baltimore, Maryland, to share strategies and best practices to reduce childhood hunger and curb childhood obesity.
A major goal of the summit was for attendees to form new coalitions. As part of this effort, my colleague, Rosemary King Johnston, who directs Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley’s Office for Children, and I were asked to present on the Maryland Partnership to End Childhood Hunger.
Together we shared the story of how the Partnership was launched, how it “works”, and highlighted some of the milestone events of the last two years. It is a story that was written together by all the great partners we have in Maryland who continue to collaborate, pool resources, and implement specific plans to reduce barriers faced by our most vulnerable children.
Thanks to some early successes and Governor O’Malley’s leadership, the partnership has attracted more than $2.1 million in investments from foundations, corporate sponsors, individual donors, and the USDA (Hunger Free Communities Grant) all of which will increase our capacity to connect children to meals every day, all year long.
Every state is different, and what works in one place may not work in others, but our experience in Maryland gives us reason to join forces with the Let’s Move initiative to build the coalitions and make the connections that will help kids at risk of both hunger and obesity to get the best possible start they can.
We presented the following slide show at the Let’s Move Mid-Atlantic Summit, illustrating the many ways we’re working to end childhood hunger in Maryland:
June 24, 2011 | 0 comment(s) | Tags: Governor O'Malley, Let's Move, Maryland, Michelle Obama
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