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Five Research Studies Demonstrate How the Innovative Public-Private Partnership Creates Healthier Family Habits

New York, NY and Washington, DC (November 8, 2013)—The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM) today announced the release of EatPlayGrow™ (EPG), a new educational curriculum, designed to keep children healthy through creative strategies developed specifically for families with very young children. Public and private agencies have joined forces to create a new national dissemination network, including federal agencies and local community anchors such as museums, libraries, community centers and Head Start and supported by dissemination through First Book and a new website.

EPG is based on a growing body of research that points to early childhood as being vitally important for developing lifelong habits. To reach this target audience, CMOM adapted the NIH’s We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity & Nutrition)®curriculum developed for parents of youth ages 8-13, for families with younger children (ages 2-5). NIH nutritionists provided guidance during the process, and the entire curriculum was review by U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) scientific experts to ensure that the information is scientifically accurate and consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.

CMOM also tested EPG in museums, community centers and preschools in New York City and New Orleans. The five evaluation reports that were produced confirm significant behavioral changes, with notable attitudinal changes by participating children and adults.
As a result of the four year project, the following core recommendations will be released:

1. Efforts to curb childhood obesity must begin as early as possible, most notably within the family.

2. Creative efforts, often using the arts, must be combined with evidence-based information to effect behavior change.

3. Families must be reached through multiple touch points within their community.

EatPlayGrow™ is unique because it utilizes a community-wide approach, focuses on young children and uses new research that includes sleep as well as nutrition and physical activity to help families build a healthy foundation. The curriculum is the product of an innovative public-private partnership that combines the scientific and medical expertise of the NIH and the creative educational approaches pioneered by CMOM for families, particularly in low-income communities.

Sam Kass, Executive Director of Let’s Move! and the White House Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition Policy, said “Recent studies, like the CDC’s report that obesity rates are dropping among low-income preschool children in 19 states, show that the tide is turning with regard to childhood obesity. These findings are encouraging, but we know that we need to keep working to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity. EatPlayGrow™ is an example of what the First Lady has called on all of us to do – use collaboration, creativity and hard work to give all our children the skills they need to grow up healthy and able to pursue their dreams.”

According to NIH Director, Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., “Early childhood is the critical time to instill good habits for a lifetime and to avoid costly and less effective interventions at older ages. Young children develop habits that stay with them and are difficult to change in later years. In addition, there is a special window of opportunity to engage parents when their children are very young and they are intensely focused on growth and development.”

Susan Hildreth, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), said “CMOM’s work with the NIH and an impressive array of community partners points the way toward a more sophisticated model of community engagement that maximizes evidence-based medical research and innovative use of community resources. This is a model that bears close study for replication. We are delighted that IMLS was an early supporter of this work.”

“Providing access for all children to quality health and education requires innovation,” said Laurie M. Tisch, President of the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, which provided early support. “The project led by CMOM combines the inspiring use of the arts to engage families with evidence-based health information to address the challenging issue of childhood obesity. From the viewpoint of a foundation, EatPlayGrow™ is the type of entrepreneurial approach needed to solve complex problems.”

“We are delighted to announce national partnerships that bring together diverse ways to reach families and children,” said Andrew Ackerman, Executive Director of CMOM. “We have integrated community anchors such as museums, libraries, community centers and Head Start sites with cross cutting distribution networks such as First Book, the We Can! and Let’s Move! networks and a streamlined professional development program (including a web-based resource) to create mutually reinforcing messages for American families. The Museum’s long term commitment to children’s health and well being is due to the leadership of Board Chair halley k harrisburg and the collective vision and steadfast support of CMOM’s Board of Directors.”

EatPlayGrow™ can be downloaded free of charge at www.cmom.org and is also available through the Association of Children’s Museums, the National Association for the Education of Young Children and Family Place Libraries. This broad access will facilitate the curriculum’s use by diverse groups dealing directly with young children, educators, families, children’s museums, schools and libraries.

In addition, CMOM, along with NIH staff, will host and conduct day-long training sessions for professionals from around the country on best practices in using the EatPlayGrow™ curriculum. These trainings will take place in the Fall 2013 and Spring 2014 in CMOM’s EatSleepPlay™ exhibition, which recently underwent a rigorous evaluation by the Hunter College Graduate School in Public Health. To maximize its reach, CMOM will make this training model available as a webinar.
Program evaluations in New York City and New Orleans yielded significant results, including:

• Increased knowledge and understanding of portion size;
• Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables;
• Increased consumption of low fat milk over whole milk;
• Increased awareness of ways to include physical activity (dancing, stretching and walking) into daily routines;
• Increased understanding that serving larger portions of food do not make a better parent and will not produce healthier children;
• Increased awareness that frozen vegetables can be as healthy as fresh; and
• Increased knowledge of the importance of good sleep habits to healthy development.

According to Michael Cohen of the Michael Cohen Research Group, who conducted evaluation studies at test sites in the South Bronx and New Orleans, “These findings suggest that the core concepts of CMOM’s curriculum were learned effectively in multiple sights and settings. Clearly, the program is already helping to move the needle in small but significant ways.”

The EatPlayGrow™ curriculum is part of CMOM’s EatSleepPlay™ multiyear national early childhood obesity prevention initiative. Created in collaboration with the NIH, EatSleepPlay was funded by the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, Institute for Museum and Library Services, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Walmart Foundation, Goldman Sachs Gives, the Joan Ganz Cooney Fund at the New York Community Trust, and the United Way of New York City.

About the National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

About Children’s Museum of Manhattan
The Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM) is the vibrant home to 350,000 visitors a year from all segments of the NYC community and tourists from around the world. The museum’s educational mission in early childhood education, creativity, health and culture thrives within our home on 83rd Street and in dozens of communities across the city as well as through national initiatives with leading authorities and government agencies. Child development is at the core of CMOM’s values and mission and our vision is to be the bridge that connects children and adults in the community, school and home in order to prepare our children for the global world in which they live. For details regarding all of CMOM’s programs and initiatives, please visit www.cmom.org

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute’s mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. To learn more about the Institute, please visit www.imls.gov.

About We Can!
We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity & Nutrition)® is a science-based national education program developed by the NIH, designed to help children stay at a healthy weight through improving food choices, increasing physical activity, and reducing screen time. The program’s messages are derived from interventions shown to be effective in NIH-funded studies on obesity in children and adolescents, including clinical trials and community intervention studies. We Can! focuses on reaching parents and families as a primary group for influencing young people. Four NIH Institutes support the program: the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; and the National Cancer Institute.