Youth Obesity Learning Collaborative
Youth Obesity Learning Collaborative -- Participants' "Working Documents" Page 
Purpose and Goals
In early 2006, the Association for Community Health Improvement of the Health Research and Educational Trust created the Youth Obesity Learning Collaborative composed of nine urban hospitals and health systems. In 2007, the Learning Collaborative was expanded to include eight rural and suburban hospitals and health systems. The program is a national effort to identify and refine effective community strategies and promising practices to prevent and reduce youth obesity.
The initiative’s ultimate goals are both to enhance the effectiveness of participants’ initiatives and to develop guidance for other hospital-based partnerships working to reduce youth obesity and its negative impacts on health. Objectives of the collaborative include providing peer consultation and technical assistance to its members’ advanced youth obesity programs, and creating a web-based guidebook to help innovative youth obesity approaches be broadly adopted throughout the field.
Program Activities
Learning collaborative members benefit by participating in face-to-face and “virtual” meetings to exchange intervention strategies and outcomes, as well as to share measurement tools and data. Participating hospitals enhance their work by setting goals and following improvement plans, supported by active peer coaching within the collaborative and technical assistance from the CDC and other expert advisors. Participants in the initial, urban cohort of hospitals have already shared and adopted numerous program ideas and intervention tools through the collaborative.
With the support of the CDC and technical advisors, participants will also contribute to the development of a guidebook and case studies helping other hospitals to implement successful youth obesity prevention and reduction programs in partnership with their communities. A working version of the guidebook will be available in the late summer of 2007.
Funding
The Youth Obesity Learning Collaborative’s first year and second year are funded through two $100,000 grants from the CDC. Additionally, the American Hospital Association has made funding available to support the collaborative. The CDC funding pays for participants’ travel to Learning Collaborative events, expert advisors and the national program office. The Learning Collaborative is not a grant with direct services funding for youth obesity prevention projects.
Hospital Participants
First Cohort - 2006
Seven hospitals from urban areas were selected in February 2006 to join founding members Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital and the Komansky Center for Children's Health of NewYork-Presbyterian (New York, NY) and INTEGRIS Health (Oklahoma City, OK) in the Learning Collaborative.
- AtlantiCare (Egg Harbor and Atlantic City, NJ)
- California Pacific Medical Center (San Francisco, CA)
- Children’s Hospital and Research Center at Oakland (Oakland, CA)
- Children’s Memorial Hospital (Chicago, IL)
- Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics / University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine (Kansas City, MO)
- Kaleida Health - Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo (Buffalo, NY)
- Little Company of Mary – San Pedro Hospital (Los Angeles, CA)
The first cohort's individual site project descriptions are available here.
Second Cohort - 2007
Eight additional sites from rural to smaller metro areas were selected in January 2007 to join the Learning Collaborative.
- Children's Hospital of Alabama - Children's Center for Weight Management (Birmingham, AL)
- Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters (Norfolk, VA)
- Clarian Health (Indianapolis, IN)
- Mercy Hospital (Coon Rapids, MN) and Unity Hospital (Fridley, MN), Allina Hospitals and Clinics
- Owensboro Medical Health System - The Foundation for Health (Owensboro, KY)
- Saint Joseph Mercy Health System (Ann Arbor, MI)
- Saint John's Mercy Hospital (Washington, MO)
- WakeMed Health and Hospitals (Raleigh, NC)
The second cohort's individual site project descriptions are available here.
In the News
New York Presbyterian Hospital Selected as a Center of Excellence in Childhood Obesity Prevention -- August 1, 2007
Related Materials
Participant Presentations
Shape Up San Francisco: Community Collaboration to Promote Healthy Eating and Active Living
ACHI Conference, March 7-9, 2007
California Pacific Medical Center and Dept of Public Health (San Francisco, CA)Family Nights: A Hospital's Approach to Engage Underserved Communities in Physical Activity
ACHI Conference, March 7-9, 2007
Little Company of Mary - San Pedro Hospital (Torrance, CA)An Innovative Approach to Diabetes Screening and Prevention in Youth
ACHI Conference, March 7-9, 2007
WakeMed (Raleigh, NC)What is CLOCC?
ACHI Audio Conference, October 17, 2007
Children's Memorial Hospital (Chicago, IL)
Articles and Resources
Beyond Medical Care: How Health Systems Can Address Children's Needs Through Health Promotion Strategies
Health Affairs, March/April 2007
YOLC Background
Please direct any questions to staff at communityhlth@aha.org
