The Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities national program.

In 2007, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced a bold and unprecedented commitment of $500 million to reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity by 2015, especially in communities at greatest risk based on income, race, ethnicity, and geographic location. To support this work, the foundation launched an array of complementary initiatives aimed at building the evidence base, testing advocacy approaches, and supporting on-the-ground action to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic. Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities (HKHC), a 5-year $33.4 million national program, was one of the foundation's earliest such investments. Building on previous successes, HKHC was designed to address the policies, systems, and environments that make it easier for low-income children and their families to engage in physical activity and play and to access healthy food in their communities. As part of its strategy, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded 50 multidisciplinary partnerships across the country, with a special focus on 15 southern states where health disparities were most significant. The selection of Active Living By Design to lead the HKHC National Program Office and Transtria, LLC, to lead the evaluation leveraged these organizations' experience in addressing the systemic issues that contribute to physical inactivity and unhealthy eating, using a broader healthy community lens. Key elements of HKHC included funding, ongoing technical assistance and consultation, a peer learning network, and participatory evaluation. The successes of the HKHC grant program are well documented in this journal as well as through case studies and case reports, spotlights, leadership profiles, and other products available at www.healthykidshealthycommunities.org and http://www.transtria.com/hkhc.php.

Collaborating to support Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities partnerships.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) (http://www.rwjf.org/en.html) launched Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities (HKHC) in 2008, with a $33.4 million commitment to help reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015. With grant funding and technical assistance, HKHC supported 50 diverse community partnerships focusing on populations at greatest risk for obesity. Active Living By Design served as the national program office, and St. Louis-based Transtria conducted the evaluation. Collaboration fundamentally shaped HKHC's national program design and strategy, the grantee selection process, technical assistance, the HKHC learning network, and evaluation. This article describes the ways in which the concept of collaboration was defined and practiced among the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Active Living By Design, Transtria, and other national partners, and how it shaped the evolving vision for and expectations from HKHC grantees. Collaboration contributed to HKHC grantees' success, helped build the healthy communities movement, and influenced philanthropic practices.

The Active Living by Design national program: community initiatives and lessons learned.

Public health advocates have increasingly highlighted the importance of implementing comprehensive physical activity interventions that use an ecologic framework. Such a framework can broadly address physical activity barriers, such as the lack of opportunities, social support, policies, built environments, and community awareness. The Active Living by Design (ALbD) was a community grant program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), which was established to help 25 communities create environments that support active living. Each funded site established a multidisciplinary community partnership and implemented the 5P strategies: preparation, promotions, programs, policy, and physical projects. The community partnerships worked within neighborhoods, schools, worksites, and other organizations to increase physical and social supports for physical activity. Ten community examples illustrate the 5Ps. Throughout the 5-year grant, the ALbD national program office provided community partnerships with group and individualized learning opportunities. Technical assistance and peer-to-peer learning was facilitated by ALbD project officers, who also coached each community partnership via site visits, regular phone calls, and electronic communications. The ALbD grant program provided valuable lessons for communities, technical assistance organizations, and funders. Community partnerships experienced success in a variety of settings and their collaborative approaches encouraged multiple organizations, including funders, to participate in improving conditions for active living. Strong local leadership was a key to success and community partnerships benefited considerably from peer-to-peer learning. The 5P model, while challenging to implement comprehensively, proved to be a useful model for community change.