In 2006, FNS organized a Childhood Overweight Workgroup to coordinate activities geared toward addressing the increasing prevalence of overweight.  Activities of this group included working with the Program Planning Committee to ensure that childhood overweight was prominently incorporated within the Annual Meeting agenda, working on the APHA position paper on Childhood Overweight, and advising the APHA leadership on childhood overweight topics. The workgroup had a very unique niche at its inception, but since then, there has been a proliferation of organizations solely focused on overweight. In order not to repeat the efforts of other groups, at the 2008 Annual Meeting, the Food and Nutrition Section leadership concluded that a more useful function of the workgroup was to keep the membership informed of current issues and opportunities for childhood overweight.

Below is a list of some activities that I would like to bring to your attention:

·         The Department of Health and Human Services, National Cancer Institute, is planning a Web-based seminar series on Obesity Policy Evaluation.  The aim of this series is to increase skills of researchers and practitioners in policy evaluation effectiveness.  The first of these seminars, Basics of Design to Evaluate Policy Interventions, is scheduled to be held Feb. 27, 2008.  If you are interested in finding out more information, please contact conferences@novaresearch.com.

·         Robert Wood Johnson has released two calls for proposals in their Childhood Obesity Program. They are seeing proposals in the following topic areas:

1. Food pricing and economic approaches;

2. Food and beverage marketing;

3. Improving access to healthy foods in low-income communities; and

4. Evaluations of promising food-related policy and environmental strategies in settings where children and their families make food choices.

Please visit the Web site for additional information: http://www.healthyeatingresearch.org/

·         Several Requests for Applications have been released in the NIH Guide.  Please follow this link for additional information:

http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/WeeklyIndex.cfm/02-06-2009/

Submitted by Robin Hamre, MPH, RD on behalf of the group:

·         The Children's BMI Tool for Schools is an Excel spreadsheet that can be used to calculate BMI for groups of children:

·         Submit your abstract for Weight of the Nation today at: www.WeightoftheNation.org.

We would like to have an ongoing section of the newsletter dedicated to the dissemination of childhood obesity activities.  If you are aware of any, please forward them to Wendy Johnson-Askew.