2015 HEALTHY KIDS, HEALTHY FUTURE CONFERENCE

Childhood obesity is a widespread epidemic. With more than a quarter of United States children ages two to five years overweight or obese it is essential obesity prevention strategies target early childhood in addition to school-aged children. More than 11 million children five and under spend an average of 30 hours a week in non-parental care, with children of working mothers spending almost 40 hours a week in such care. Since most children five or under (60%) spend a considerable amount of time in care outside the home, ECE settings are an optimal place to reach large numbers of young children.Obesity prevention policy, systems and practice initiatives impacting ECE settings focus on ensuring food served is healthy, consumption of sugar sweetened beverages is limited, opportunities are provided each day for children to be physical active (including reducing the amount of time spent in front of a screen) and staff encouragement of breastfeeding. Nationwide, state stakeholder groups are identifying and leveraging opportunities to prevent childhood obesity through the ECE setting. Evaluations of efforts to ensure ECE settings are meeting best practices for healthy eating, physical activity, screen time, and breastfeeding support have found promising results. A systematic review of such evaluations found moderate evidence suggesting that multi-component obesity prevention approaches implemented in ECE settings improve weight related outcomes in preschoolers.The 2009 Healthy Kids, Healthy Future conference was intended to meet an identified need in the field at the time: a multi-disciplinary approach to child health promotion and obesity prevention. Since 2009 there has been tremendous movement in the field, thanks in part to the 2009 event and subsequent work of the HKHF steering committee members. In 2015 the field is ripe with opportunities that can be leveraged to promote child health and prevent obesity. A national conference is important at this time to provide a forum through which multi-disciplinary leaders can craft shared strategies to leverage these funding, policy, and regulatory opportunities which are unlikely to occur simultaneously again.Penn State University Cooperative Extension Better Kid Care in partnership with Nemours Children's Health System will support the 2016 Healthy Kids, Healthy Futures (HKHF) conference. In keeping with the purpose of AFRI funding, the conference will address a key issue of agricultural sustainability, human nutrition, at a national level. The main focus of the conference is disseminating early childhood obesity prevention science-based knowledge to leading experts for the purpose of informing program planning and future research. The conference will foster scientific exchange by bringing together experts in research, practice and policy from disciplines including nutrition, health, physical activity, obesity prevention, early care and education, and parent/family engagement. Their combined expertise and research experience will inform future research, policy and practice to enhance the quality of life beginning in the earliest stages of life.Given contextual factors in ECE and child health now is a critical time to come together as a field and discuss how we can capitalize on opportunities in the current landscape. The overarching goal of the proposed conference is to serve as a forum focused on the intersection of ECE and child health, through which national experts in research, practice and policy can build relationships to accelerate work toward reduction of childhood obesity. The conference will also build important relationships and create efficiencies for moving shared work forward. The vision for the conference is an event that focuses on:Joining research, policy, and practice in ECE and child health;Continuing important discussions about health promotion and obesity prevention in ECE environments;Engaging thought leaders and policy makers at the local, state and national levels about systems level changes that can accelerate impact and sustain progress;Increasing understanding of existing innovative programs and initiatives (what works and why);Spreading, Scaling & Sustaining "promising practices" in health promotion and obesity prevention; andCommitting to actions that can further advance the field.