Strategies

The We Can!® national movement uses the following key strategies to promote healthy weight in children.

Materials Development and Dissemination

For the We Can! program, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has developed and/or selected many science-based resources and tools that are appropriate for parents, caregivers, and communities, including:

• Curricula that educate parents, caregivers, and children about healthy eating and nutrition, physical activity, and reducing screen time. All of these curricula are designed to help children maintain a healthy weight.
• Numerous resources designed for community organizers and program planners to run the We Can! program in a variety of settings.  These include toolkits, an online training, promotional materials, and many more.
• Many consumer-friendly tools, tip sheets, and interactive resources for families, communities, and health care professionals.
• A website with helpful content that offers the entire program’s tools and resources for download, mostly free of charge. Visit the tools and resources section to see a complete list.

Check out our general program publications and resources for background information on We Can!.

Community Partnerships

An important strategy of We Can! is community involvement. We Can! provides communities with a flexible, turn-key, and evidence-based program. A wide range of community organizations across the country have run We Can! programs and distributed We Can! tools and messages. They include:

• Hospitals and health systems
• Park and recreation departments
• Public health departments
• Community-based organizations, like churches and YMCAs
• Schools and universities
• Worksites

Learn more about community sites and read success stories from several of our community sites.

National and Corporate Partnerships

Since its 2005 launch, We Can! has partnered with a wide range of national organizations, which are helping to spread We Can! programming to a wider audience through their networks.

Media Outreach

We Can! messages have reached millions of families and others across the nation thanks to stories covered by national and local print, radio, television, and online news media.

Program Assessment

When the program completed its first year of activities, NIH sought to better understand the program strengths and weaknesses by conducting an assessment of the first 14 community sites—the We Can! Founding Intensive Sites—that ran We Can! programming. Findings showed improvements in knowledge, attitudes, and behavior in both parents and youth participants. See details in the full progress report. (4.5 MB)