title: Collaborating for impact: a multilevel early childhood obesity prevention initiative.
abstract: This article presents Healthy Kids, Healthy Futures, a multilevel initiative in Boston, Massachusetts, which brings major institutions' missions and resources together to address early childhood obesity prevention. Programming is designed to facilitate healthy eating and physical activity in preschool children's home, school, and community environments by engaging parents and early childhood educators in the places where they live, learn, and play. This article describes how established interventions were implemented in a novel setting to engage the parents of children attending Head Start and staff, and presents pilot data from the first 2 years of the initiative. Healthy Kids, Healthy Futures is a feasible initiative, which has shown concrete, positive results that can be replicated.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Urban Health Research, Bouve College of Sciencé, Northeastern University, USA.
authors.forename: Tara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.forename: Jessica A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.forename: Marilyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ahl
authors.forename: Urmi
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bhaumik
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Healey
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carter
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dickerson
authors.forename: Shari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nethersole
authors.forename: Daphne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Griffin
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Castaneda-Sceppa
mesh_terms: D001900:Boston; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational; D015444:Exercise; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D012932:Social Facilitation