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Celebrate 15 Years of CLOCC
RSVP for the Winter Quarterly Meeting on Thursday, December 7th
Join us for CLOCC's Winter Quarterly Meeting on Thursday, December 7th, at
The Conference Center One North Wacker. The main session will be held from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and will be preceded by CLOCC's interest group meetings.
The 2017 Winter Quarterly Meeting will be a celebration of CLOCC's 15th Anniversary and will focus on the past, present and future of childhood obesity prevention in Chicago. The agenda will include several special sessions, including the announcement of CLOCC's childhood obesity prevention Hall of Fame, the presentation of the 2017 Katherine Kaufer Christoffel Founder's Award and a poster session featuring recent, local work on obesity prevention.
Registration will close on December 6th or when the meeting reaches capacity. RSVP today using the button below.
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Policy Update:
Funding the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is vital to providing medical insurance for children across the United States. Though Medicaid is responsible for providing health coverage to over 30 million children, CHIP, created in 1997 with strong bipartisan support, ensures coverage for the remaining 6 million children who do not qualify for Medicaid yet lack access to affordable health care coverage. Designed to specifically cover children, CHIP includes pediatric health care benefits and access to pediatric providers as a method to protect vulnerable children and families.
Ensuring that families have equitable access to health care, where they can receive much needed information that is important for obesity prevention remains a priority for our Consortium. With CHIP, the uninsured rate of U.S. children is now at an all-time low with 95% of children covered.
Congress reauthorized CHIP and extended federal funding for the program in 2009 through the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA). A year later, in 2010, the Affordable Care Act strengthened provisions of the program and extended funding through 2015. Most recently, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015 extended CHIP funding through September 2017.
As of the end of September 2017, funding for CHIP has expired and although there is still support for a five-year extension of CHIP, Congress has not acted to pass a final bill. A version of the extension passed in the House in early November. However, this version unfortunately used the Prevention and Public Health Fund as an offset to fund CHIP and other critical public health programs - a strategy that many public health organizations across the country were opposed to. There is has yet to be any movement in the Senate to address this issue. With the expiration of CHIP, some states could begin to scale down the distribution of healthcare to children unless the program is funded soon.
The Children's Hospital Association is sponsoring a national day of action to support the reauthorization of CHIP this Thursday, November 30th.
If you would like to make your voice heard on this important issue, here are some ways you can reach out to your congressmembers:
- Call your U.S. senators. Phone calls are an effective means for advocating to U.S. senators. Each call is logged, and the net effect is for senators to appreciate that their constituents feel strongly about protecting CHIP for children. You can find your senators' numbers here - tell them why protecting CHIP matters to you.
- Send electronic letters to your U.S. senators and representative. Visit the Speak Now for Kids website, enter your information and send the pre-written letter. You also can personalize the letter to share facts about CHIP in our state and why protecting CHIP is important to you
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Sunday, December 3 Kicks Off "Rethink Your Drink" Week
Next week is Rethink Your Drink week in Illinois:
- Participate in Sugarless Sunday on Sunday, Dec. 3rd to kick-off the week. Faith-based groups are encouraged to pledge to rethink their drinks for the week, post signage and provide education on the health harms of sugary drinks in their institutions.
- Join the social media day of action: Monday, Dec. 4th! Everyone across the state can participate in posting something! #RethinkYourDrinkIL
- If you're in Cook County, call Commissioners on Tuesday, Dec. 5th to thank them for preserving critical County health services, tell them what you're doing for Rethink Your Drink week, and ask them to invest in more public awareness about the health harms of sugary drinks in future county budgets.
- Join the Twitter chat on Wednesday, Dec. 6th, 12pm-1pm. Follow @PrevObesityIL on twitter for details.
- Host an event in your community/institution to provide education on the health harms of sugary drinks. Collect RYD pledge cards, provide information/educational materials, host community discussions, etc. Then, post your photos of your events on social media! For example, at IPHI, staff will compete to find the best fruit-infused water recipe with a fun taste-testing group event!
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"Serve Chicago Kids Better" Event Scheduled for Tuesday, December 5th
Learn More About Improving Kids' Meals in Chicago Restaurants
Please join Mercy Hospital & Medical Center and the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC) for a meeting to discuss ways to ensure children have healthy options when dining out at restaurants on T
uesday, December 5 from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m.
at Oakwood Shores Community Center located at 3825 S. Vincennes Avenue.
Our City's families deserve access to nutritious meals when they eat out, and parents deserve for those healthful opportunities to be plentiful and readily available. This past September, CLOCC launched a new campaign to Serve Chicago Kids Better in an effort to explore healthier options for restaurant kids' meals.
In previous generations, eating out was considered a treat and a
special occasion. That is no longer the case in urban areas like Chicago where family schedules are stressed and restaurants are plentiful and affordable. One in every three children in Chicago are eating out at fast-food restaurants on any given day. A factor in this trend: the restaurant industry spends over a half a BILLION dollars marketing to children every year.
At a time, where kindergarten-aged Chicago children have been
found to be overweight at a prevalence rate of 36.5%, more than twice the national average and unhealthy weight in children means kids are at a greater risk for numerous adverse health consequences, now is the time to encourage restaurants in Chicago to do their part to make sure our children have access to healthier meals.
Come and hear from Jameika Sampson, Mercy's Director of Community Health and
Well-Being and CLOCC's Advocacy Program Manager, Katie Danko about the Serve Chicago Kids Better Campaign and ways your organization can help working parents and C
hicago communities by advocating for healthier kids' meals in Chicago.
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January Evaluation Workshop Open for Registration
While the "Intro to Program Evaluation" workshops have reached capacity, registration is now open for the second workshop, slated for January 16th: "Intro to Logic Models for Community Organization Program Evaluation."
Click here for the full flyer (PDF download).
Intro to Logic Models for Community Organization Program Evaluation
January 16th, 2018, 9:00-11:00 a.m.
This session will introduce the logic model concept, review several model formats, provide tips & processes for completing the logic model and begin a logic model for an evaluation you may have in mind.
To RSVP or learn more for the January workshop, click here.
The workshops are co-sponsored by the Alliance for Research in Chicagoland Communities (ARCC) and the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital Smith Child Health Research Program.
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fiveSMART® Training Slated for Wednesday, Dec. 6th at CLOCC
Join us on Wednesday, December 6th, for a fiveSMART® message training presented by the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children. Attendees will gain background on CLOCC's new health message for prenatal and early-childhood development (0-3 years). This training will be held from 1:00-4:00 p.m. at CLOCC's offices in Chicago.
fiveSMART is designed as a companion message for 5-4-3-2-1 Go!®, and communicates the importance of:
This fiveSMART training opportunity will be relevant and useful for anyone who works with pregnant women or children aged 0-3, including day care providers, pediatricians, OB physicians, family practitioners and home visitors. There is no cost to attend the training.
Date:
Wednesday, December 6th, 2017
Time: 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Location: CLOCC/Ann &; Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, 680 N. Lakeshore Drive, Chicago, IL, 60611
Please take the elevator to the 16th Floor and check in at the Lurie reception desk before proceeding to the training location in the 15th-floor conference rooms.
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CHILDHOOD OBESITY IN THE NEWS
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FUNDING & RECOGNITION OPPORTUNITIES
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Forefront and Tyson Foods are offering an opportunity for Illinois hunger relief organizations to better understand and meet their potential, grow nonprofit management skills, and share best practices and challenges with peers.
Selected organizations will receive access to:
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A capacity assessment that identifies organizational strengths and challenges, and provides recommendations for addressing their most important capacity building needs
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Six nonprofit management workshops curated to meet the learning needs of cohort members
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A group of peers to whom they can turn for collaboration, help, and support.
For details,
click here. To apply, please complete and submit the application by 5:00 p.m. on
Friday, December 1, 2017.
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T
he Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC) is a nationally recognized leader for community-based obesity prevention. We support, coordinate, and unite partners to promote healthy and active lifestyles for children and families. Our multi-sector approach emerged in Chicago and can be adapted for use anywhere.
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