Salud America! Gets $1.3M to Fuel Policy Changes that Reduce Latino Childhood Obesity

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sa websiteLatino children are more obese/overweight than their white and black peers, and they face many barriers to healthy lifestyles, studies show.

Who is stepping up for Latino kids?

Salud America! The RWJF Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children this week received a one-year, $1.3 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to develop new evidence and educational content that empowers people to drive healthy policy changes for Latino children.

The new funding allows Salud America! to expand its membership, which has recruited more than 10,000 parents, leaders, academics, and advocates.

The network also will conduct research reviews and policy recommendations to guide anti-obesity efforts.

It also will enhance its award-winning Salud America! Growing Healthy Change website with: a revamped policy map where people can enter their address and see what’s happening near them; new campaigns to engage people in reducing obesity; new multimedia Salud Heroes stories and videos of successful healthy changes; expanded social media (@SaludToday) interaction with Tweetchats, contests, etc.; and much more.

“We are extremely grateful that RWJF is enabling us to further expand our content-creation capabilities to empower more people to make healthy changes,” said Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPH, director of Salud America!, which is headquartered at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. “Our website and content will continue to be used by individuals and groups who choose to push for evidence-based governmental and corporate policies addressing Latino health.”

Join the network today!

And don’t forget to check out all the great stories in the new Salud America! E-newsletter.

By The Numbers By The Numbers

20.7

percent

of Latino kids have obesity (compared to 11.7% of white kids)

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