Using Evidence to Create Active Communities: Stories from the Field--Policy and Research with Chicago's Child Care Centers

A Commentary to Accompany the Active Living Research Supplement to Annals of Behavioral Medicine

The Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC) is a nationally recognized childhood obesity prevention program that connects hundreds of organizations to implement evidence-based approaches to protect children from the obesity epidemic. CLOCC’s primary focus is on children, 0 to 5 years of age, their caregivers, and their communities.

CLOCC, in collaboration with the Inter-Departmental Task Force on Childhood Obesity, led by the Chicago Department of Public Health, passed a joint resolutioin in 2009 to improve child care standards relating to nutrition, physical activity, and screen-time (e.g., television and computers).

This commentary outlines key recommendations for partnerships interested in policy changes among child care centers which help ensure not only effective implementation of policy change, but sustained and continued efforts.

Based on their experience implementing and evaluating these policy changes, CLOCC presents the following:

  1. Recognize that policy changes implemented at the government level are more effective when coupled with individual-level policy changes.
  2. Utilize a collaborative approach reaching various levels of expertise.
  3. Seek policy opportunities beyond the local government.
  4. Adapt as new (or existing) research becomes available.
  5. Offer educational sessions or test proposed policies with limited rollout.
  6. Implement a mixed-methods research approach and share findings with all parties involved.

Introduction to the Active Living Research Supplement

  1. 1 Translating Research to Policy Through Health Impact Assessment in Clark County, Washington
  2. 2 Uneven Playing Field--Effective Strategies to Address Health Inequity Through Active Living Research
  3. 3 Using Evidence to Create Active Communities: Stories from the Field--Policy and Research with Chicago's Child Care Centers
  4. 4 Trends in Presentations of Environmental and Policy Studies Related to Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Obesity at Society of Behavioral Medicine, 1995-2010
  5. 5 Spatial Disparities in the Distribution of Parks and Green Spaces in the USA
  6. 6 Exploring the Distribution of Park Availability, Features, and Quality Across Kansas City, Missouri by Income and Race/Ethnicity
  7. 7 Perceptions of Neighborhood Park Quality
  8. 8 Gender Differences in Self-Report Physical Activity and Park and Recreation Facility Use Among Latinos in Wake County, North Carolina
  9. 9 Beyond Distance: Children's School Travel Mode Choice
  10. 10 The Perceived and Built Environment Surrounding Urban Schools and Physical Activity Among Adolescent Girls
  11. 11 Aesthetic Amenities and Safety Hazards Associated with Walking and Bicycling for Transportation in New York City
  12. 12 Does Neighbourhood Walkability Moderate the Effects of Mass Media Communication Strategies to Promote Regular Physical Activity?
  13. 13 Individual-and Area-Level Disparities in Access to the Road Network, Subway System and a Public Bicycle Share Program on the Island of Montreal, Canada
  14. 14 Effect of Bike Lane Infrastructure Improvements on Ridership in One New Orleans Neighborhood
  15. 15 Using Google Street View to Audit the Built Environment
  16. 16 School Sport Participation Under Two School Sport Policies
  17. 17 Physical Education and Student Activity
  18. 18 District and School Physical Education Policies
  19. 19 Predictors of Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA) in African American Young Adolescents
  20. 20 Pathways to Outdoor Recreation, Physical Activity, and Delinquency Among Urban Latino Adolescents
  21. 21 Locations of Joint Physical Activity in Parent-Child Pairs Based on Accelerometer and GPS Monitoring

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