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What is ChildObesity180?

We are a team of dedicated scientists, communication specialists, creative thinkers, and community-engaged researchers working towards a world where all children can thrive.

Through innovative research, multi-sector partnerships, and deep community engagement, we work to reverse the trends of obesity and health inequity. We invite you to join us in this work.   

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Our Work

Our work addresses the complex drivers of health throughout childhood, from pre-conception to early adulthood, in the places and spaces where children and adolescents live, learn, and play.

It’s big picture, systems thinking, designed to impact the health and well-being of all children, especially in communities experiencing disadvantage.

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Updates & Announcements: Our Team’s Achievements

Angélica Valdés Valderrama, a doctoral student at the Friedman school of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, was recently selected to participate in the highly competitive Yale Ciencia Academy for Career Development (YCA) as a fellow! 

To learn more about our new partners and other exciting updates, visit our News page.

Our evolution

At ChildObesity180, we are constantly innovating and evolving. For more than a decade, we’ve worked across sectors to identify and scale best practices for obesity prevention.

Since 2021, we have been strengthening our focus on addressing the complex drivers of health in all the work we do, and expanding the age range of children we serve. We hope you will join us as we take our work to a new level.

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Reversing the trend

We aim to create a world where all children thrive with the support of families and communities that embrace a culture of health.

At ChildObesity180, we’ve spent more than a decade working with multi-sector partners to develop, evaluate and scale the best approaches to reduce health disparities and obesity rates for all children.

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Challenge of the times

The COVID-19 pandemic has limited many children’s access to healthful foods and physical exercise. Long-standing inequities in healthcare came into stark relief.

We can’t predict long-term outcomes, but with our partners we are committed to keeping the focus on children’s health and obesity prevention.  

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Partnering for change

At ChildObesity180, we build effective partnerships that include academia, business, and community-based organizations.

Our multi-sector collaborations bring together expertise critical to advancing the science and practice of obesity prevention, and to creating healthy, sustainable environments in which all children can thrive.

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Real World Impact

More than a decade ago, ChildObesity180 launched to change the way people think about obesity prevention. Our evidence-based initiatives have already reached more than 12 million children in all 50 states.

Now, with our community partners, we’re poised to create healthier environments for millions more children nationwide.

The Challenge

Nearly 1 in 5 young people aged 6 to 19 have obesity, with even higher rates in communities experiencing disadvantage and communities of color. The causes underlying this epidemic are complex and dynamically interconnected.

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The Approach

We apply a strategic, coordinated, evidenced-based approach to address this challenge, recognizing that the solution to reversing the trend of obesity lies not only in people but also in the policies, communities, and environments that surround them.

The Team

What makes our organization distinctive is its people and their expertise, dedication, and diversity of experience. We’ve engaged a team of prominent experts and leaders from all sectors—academic, public, nonprofit, and private—with a shared commitment to address the epidemic of childhood obesity.

Helping Children Thrive

Our work over the past 20 years has centered around creating healthy environments, especially for those who live in communities experiencing disadvantage. In communities across the country, we have taken a whole-of-community approach to align the work of people across settings and sectors, to ensure that all children have the opportunity to thrive.

Photo courtesy of Harlem Children's Zone

Highlights from our work

Healthy Ways Replication

ChildObesity180 is partnering with the Harlem Children’s Zone to replicate Healthy Ways, a program empowering youth, families, and the broader community to adopt lifelong, healthy habits.

Highlights from our work

Catalyzing Communities

Catalyzing Communities develops deep and meaningful relationships with community partners, using facilitation and evaluation techniques grounded in systems science to help them mobilize a core group of multisector leaders to improve the health of their community.

THIS WIC

Highlights from our work

Telehealth Intervention Strategies for WIC (THIS-WIC)

This cooperative agreement with USDA aims to develop cutting-edge telehealth technology to improve delivery of nutrition education to pregnant women and caregivers of young children in the USDA’s WIC Program, particularly for clients who have difficulty accessing WIC clinics. 

You are The Mom Murals

Highlights from our work

You’re the Mom

You’re the Mom is a social media campaign that empowers moms to take small steps to make healthy eating fun and easy for their kids.