During the strategic planning process, the HLM Team applied for a Catalyzing Communities Partnership grant from Tufts University, which is a ChildObesity180 initiative. We are very excited to share that HLM and Harris County was one of 3 communities from throughout the U.S. selected for the current cohort of communities this program is partnering with through 2023.

The Catalyzing Communities partnership provides technical assistance in creating measurable change within communities that can advance child health. They have built a lot of the framework and methodology behind the system from the success of Shape Up Somerville, which remains an active program within the City of Somerville, Massachusetts, and helped inform some of the initiatives of the Let's Move Campaign during the Obama Administration.

As discussed in the new strategic plan, HLM will work to partner with additional target communities. The first new community that has been engaged for partnership is the East Aldine community in Precinct 2. The Catalyzing Communities Team will support the work in the East Aldine Community, and we hope to build on the lessons learned and strategies implemented in East Aldine, to expand throughout the greater Aldine area and additional target communities in Harris County. The picture featured above shows Julie Appel from Catalyzing Communities sharing the work of the partnership with East Aldine stakeholders at a luncheon HLM hosted with HOPE Clinic. We are excited for this work to continue in 2022; please stay tuned for updates and find out ways that you can be involved.

One of the many benefits of being a Catalyzing Communities partner community is that we are included in the Catalyzing Communities Learning Collaborative. This learning collaborative provides an opportunity to hear about cutting edge research and methodologies from experienced researchers and medical professions in the field of childhood obesity. In November we invited our partners to a learning collaborative session called “Trends in Food Sources and Diet Quality in US Children," which was a keynote address by Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian and moderated by Dr. Christine Economos. Please stay tuned for more learning opportunities like this for all of our members and partners!