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.