Press Release: Youth Empowered to Join Movement and Go Healthy in September

Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Go Healthy Month Kicks Off at New York Youth-Hosted Forum, Inspiring Kids to Take a Stand Against Childhood Obesity

(NEW YORK) Sept. 2, 2009 – The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a joint partnership of the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation, is empowering youth to join the fight against childhood obesity and to celebrate September’s Go Healthy Month. Focusing efforts on preventing childhood obesity and creating healthier lifestyles for all children, the Alliance has designated the month of September as Go Healthy Month. Our empowerME movement – more than one million strong – will reach out this month to expand and inspire even more tweens and teens to eat better, move more and wipe out America’s obesity epidemic. Tweens and teens are asked to join the empowerME movement, inspire with their story, and attend or organize a Go Healthy Month event in their community.

“America’s kids are facing unprecedented rates of obesity. By joining together to fight this epidemic, they are inspiring each other to live healthier,” said Ginny Ehrlich, executive director of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. “Through Go Healthy Month and the empowerME Movement we hope to empower more than 2 million kids to make better choices now, to ensure an impact on their health and quality of life in the future.”

The month-long celebration kicks off today in New York as the empowerME Movement brings together more than 150 teens at a Youth-Hosted Forum at the Vanderbilt YMCA. The event provides an opportunity for youth to discuss the importance of being healthy and share ideas about how to help their families and communities eat healthier and get more physical activity. The Forum will empower teens to make healthy behavior changes, become leaders and advocates for healthy living and be a solution to America’s obesity epidemic. Today’s event is co-hosted with leading youth organizations in New York including Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City, Do Something, FamilyCooks Productions, Healthy Monday, NY Food and Fitness Partnership, Working In Support of Education and YMCA of Greater New York.

Throughout September, the empowerME Movement hosts dozens of Go Healthy Month events across the country including Youth-Hosted Forums, community celebrations and Recess ROCKS! – a signature field-day, community event for family fun. “Go Healthy Month is the perfect time for us kids to make a commitment to be healthy,” said David Sanchez, 17, Racine, Wis., a member of the empowerME Movement’s Youth Advisory Board. “By attending a Go Healthy Month event, joining the empowerME Movement and sharing our stories, we can motivate each other to make sure our generation will live longer, healthier lives.”

In addition to the New York kick off event, Youth-Hosted Forums will be held in 13 cities including:

• Indianapolis, co-hosted with United Way of Central Indiana
• North Little Rock, Ark.- co-hosted with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation Youth Advisory Board
• Tempe, Ariz.- co-hosted with the American Heart Association
• Milwaukee, co-hosted with the American Heart Association
• Fort Worth, Texas – co-hosted with the American Heart Association
• Detroit, co-hosted with the American Heart Association
• Birmingham, Ala.- co-hosted with the YMCA
• Kansas City, Mo..- co-hosted with the American Heart Association and Camp Fire Heartland Council
• Philadelphia, co-hosted with the American Heart Association
• Omaha, Neb..- co-hosted with the YMCA
• Nashville, Tenn..- co-hosted with the American Heart Association
• Tulsa, Okla..- co-hosted with the YMCA
• Louisville, Ky..- co-hosted with the YMCA

Go Healthy Month is also celebrated at Recess ROCKS! events that feature dozens of energizing activities for kids and families to have fun and play while also learning a bit about healthy living. The events gives kids an opportunity to join the empowerME Movement and commit to better health, and offers parents a host of new ideas for keeping the whole family healthy. Cities hosting Recess ROCKS! events include Chicago, Hartford, Little Rock, New York and Washington, D.C.

For a detailed list of all local Go Healthy Month events and to learn more about how youth can join the empowerME Movement visit www.empowerme2b.org

# # #

Learn more about our work at https://www.clintonfoundation.org/about, on Facebook at Facebook.com/ClintonFoundation and on Twitter @ClintonFdn.

About Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City
Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC (BigsNYC), the nation’s first mentoring organization, has served the changing needs of New York City’s most at-risk youth since 1904, by developing and nurturing mentoring relationships under the guidance of trained case managers who carefully screen adults who are interested in spending 6-10 hours a month with school-age children, primarily from single-parent families. BigsNYC has also developed programs to help children facing more complex challenges, such as immigrant youth, teen moms and victims of 9/11, and a training center for all of New York City’s community agencies. Through the support of individuals, foundations and corporations, this not-for-profit agency has been able to reach out to the city’s most disadvantaged children matching them with caring mentors, helping them to achieve bright and productive futures. To offer support and/or to volunteer, call (212)686-2042 or visit www.bigsnyc.org.

About Do Something
Do Something believes teenagers have the power to make a difference. We leverage communications technologies to enable teens to convert their ideas and energy into positive action. We inspire, empower and celebrate a generation of doers: teenagers who recognize the need to do something, believe in their ability to get it done, and then take action. Plug in at www.dosomething.org.

About FamilyCooks Productions
FamilyCook Productions provides educational curricula, materials & services to help students K-12 build a more positive relationship with food in school and beyond. FamilyCook’s Teen Iron Chef program is a powerful youth development tool comprised of a 7-week curriculum where teens work in teams and ‘battle’ by presenting cooking demonstrations of their assigned recipe. Each presentation includes the recipe’s nutritional and ethnic background. Participating youth inspire one another to cook healthier meals for family and friends! Students develop leadership skills and share what they learn about healthful eating in their community at farmers' markets, special events, and by mentoring younger students in their community.

About Healthy Monday
Healthy Monday is a national movement to help individuals, health advocates, and organizations commit each week to the actions and intentions that will end preventable disease in the U.S. Founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications, Healthy Monday is a free, user-friendly and upbeat platform that uses the start of each week to spur improved health and wellness. Every Monday is literally a new opportunity to raise health! For more information visit HealthyMonday.org.

About NY Food and Fitness Partnership
The New York City Food and Fitness Partnership is dedicated to making the healthy choice the easy choice by working with communities to ensure that access to affordable healthy, nutritious food and adequate safe spaces for physical activity are available for all New York City residents.

About Working In Support of Education (w!se)
Working In Support of Education (w!se) is a national educational 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing educational support services nationwide, building financial literacy, fostering business and social entrepreneurship, and preparing students for college and the global workplace. One of w!se’s most recent additions to its portfolio of programs is the Global Communications Institute (GCI), a two-year character development program for New York City public high school students which shapes them to become sophisticated young individuals capable of meeting society’s increasingly complex challenges. GCI connects its participants with experts and professionals who build their oral/written communication skills and their social/professional networking skills and expose them to new cultures, ideas and information on careers, global trends and social protocol — essentially helping them to navigate academic and professional settings with greater confidence. Students first attend an intensive summer institute followed by school-year events, workshops, seminars, community service/internship opportunities, and scholarship programs offered by our partnering organizations. For more information, please visit www.wise-ny.org/GCI.htm.

About the YMCA of Greater New York
The YMCA of Greater New York is a community service organization which promotes positive values through programs that build spirit, mind and body, welcoming all people, with a focus on youth. The largest private youth-serving organization in New York City, the YMCA of Greater New York encompasses 19 branches and 180 program sites throughout the five boroughs, plus three camps upstate, serving 350,000 New Yorkers of all ages each year, including 175,000 children in a variety of educational, social, health and wellness, as well as recreational and child development programs, each of which reinforce the YMCA values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility. Supported in part through contributions to the Strong Kids Campaign, the YMCA provides membership assistance and scholarships, so that no one is turned away due to an inability to pay. Visit ymcanyc.org to learn more.

Photo credit: Adam Schultz / Clinton Foundation