Coalition Building Tip: What is your coalition's strength?

Throughout the course of the Active School Initiative, coalitions are expected to implement a least two strategies to build or strengthen the capacity of the coalition. Here are some tips to help your coalition accomplish the strategies suggested in the grant guidelines. Need to review the grant guidelines? You can find them on www.healthinpractice.org/project/Active-Schools.

Assessing the capacity of your coalition will help you identify strengths, weaknesses and gaps. One way to assess your capacity, is using the Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Program's Coalition Self-Assessment Tool.

The survey will take about 30 minutes to complete. At the end of this assessment you can print a report with your coalition "score," which will indicate your relative level of resources.

A description of the categories and values for the Coalition Self-Assessment Tool and the resulting score is also available. A pdf version of the Coalition Self-Assessment Tool can also be downloaded to make it easier to fill in the tool as a group, before entering your answers online.

Candidate Education: Obesity is a Top Wisconsin Killer

How has your coalition used the Obesity is a Top Wisconsin Killer candidate education piece that was shared at the Oct. 19 and 20th coalition training?

As a reminder, we suggested three ways you could use the education piece:

1. Educate your community

• Use it to recruit new members
• Use it to inspire your current coalitions members
• Integrate it into your current activities

2. Educate your policymakers

• Use it for in-person visits
• Use it, along with a letter, to introduce your coalition to policymakers

3. Media advocacy

• Use it to craft letters to the editor
• Take it to an editorial board visit
• Share with local media

Registration open for Dec. 9 Advocacy Training

Registration is now open for the Dec. 9 Coalition Advocacy Training!!

Purpose: To strengthen coalition capacity to promote healthy eating and active living through state-level and local-level educational advocacy tactics, including media advocacy, educating key local and state decision makers, and community engagement.

Details
WHO: Active Schools grantees (plan to send 3-4 coalition members)

DATE: Thursday, December 9, 2010

TIME: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. (updated time)

LOCATION: Holiday Inn Hotel & Convention Center, 1001 Amber Ave., Stevens Point, WI, 54482

REGISTRATION: Please register your coalition participants by Nov. 11 at https://doa.wi.gov/DHSSurveys/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=78MLn8l5

ACCOMODATIONS: For those of you who will need overnight accommodations, we have a block of rooms reserved at the Holiday Inn at the state rate. To reserve a room …
1. Call the hotel directly at 715-344-0200
2. Call the reservation hotline at 1-888-HOLIDAY
3. Visit the link below:
WI Department of Health Services
If you cannot click the link, copy and paste the following:
http://ichotelsgroup.com/redirect?path=rates&brandCode=HI&GPC=DHS&hotelCode=STEAA&_PMID=99801505

When making reservations, please reference WI Department of Health Services or group code: DHS

Please reserve your room by Wednesday, Nov. 17.

The Big Picture: Obesity Prevention Projects in Wisconsin

Wisconsin has a lot of exciting obesity prevention work going on right now. Here is a sampling of what's happening.

NPAO Local Implementation Grants: 13 counties have been awarded Local Implementation Grants and are getting started with a variety of projects including:

• Buffalo and Pepin counties are working together on a planning grant to create a unified bi-county nutrition and physical activity coaliton. The counties have collaborated successfully in the past and share rural characteristics.
• In an effort to increase healthy adult role models in their communities, Waupaca County's NuAct Coalition is expanding its Working on Wellness effort with businesses and adults in their places of work. The project will survey past participants to determine successful components of the Wisconsin Worksite Wellness Toolkit and how it contributed to their companies' successful wellness plan, then use the data to improve their facilitation of the toolkit use in other businesses.

Communities Putting Prevention to Work

Active Schools: 21 school sites across the state are piloting strategies from the Active School Toolkit to offer 60+ minutes of physical activity a day.

• Deerfield's Active Schools efforts made the news in early October with an activity that brought 400 people out to walk for an hour with pedometers prior to a high school football game.
• Osceola Middle School and Oakfield Elementary School have begun implementing Active Recess strategies and have reported postive responses from students.
• The Department of Public Instruction held workshops in October on Creating an Active Recess and Increasing Activity in the Classroom.

Active Early: Promoting Physical Activity in Early Care and Education Baseline data was collected in October at the 20 child care sites that are piloting strategies to incorporate 120 minutes of physical activity each day. Providers will be trained in November on how to use the Active Early Toolkit: Promoting Physical Activity in Early Care and Education.