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Illinois Action for Healthy Kids

Welcome to the Illinois Team

Action for Healthy Kids is the nation’s leading non-profit and largest volunteer network fighting childhood obesity and undernourishment by partnering with schools to improve nutrition and physical activity to help our kids learn to eat right, be active every day, and be ready to learn.

The Illinois Action for Healthy Kids Team is committed to increasing its work directly with schools and districts by building its membership and utilizing proven programs that generate excitement about healthy schools.

Current Events

SAVE THE DATE: 6th annual IL School Wellness Recognition Conference-- Early Bird Registration Due April 19th!

The School Day Keeps Getting Healthier--Friday May 3rd, Springfield, IL

Please join us for the 6th Annual Illinois School Wellness Conference on Friday, May 3, 2013. The Illinois State Board of Education and the Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK) is once again sponsoring this exciting conference. The conference is ideal for school administrators, school nurses, educators, food service staff, wellness committee members, parents, students and anyone else who wants to learn more about encouraging healthy lifestyles and healthy food at school.

For more information, click here.

To view the schedule for the conference, click here.

To register, visit our registration page.

Join Us for the Healthy, Sustainable Communities event

Healthy people. Healthy communities. Join DuPage FORWARD for GreenTown, an experience designed to create healthy, sustainable communities. Our aim: to bring together the public sector and the private sector to "connect the dots", to inspire and to work together to remake our communities. The IL AFHK team will sponsor a day-long school wellness track appropriate for Northern Illinois parents, teachers, school administrators, board members, community-based youth organizations and anyone else who is interested. Join us Thursday April 25, 2013 at the Hotel Arista, Naperville, IL. For more details: click here.

Team Healthy Kids--Mokena Park District's Summertime Stride 5K Run/Walk-- June 8, 2013

Join the Mokena Park District at the 3rd Annual Summertime Stride 5K Run & Walk benefitting the Illinois Action for Healthy Kids team in Mokena, IL on Saturday, June 8, 2013 starting at 8:30am. This 3.1 mile USATF certified course is a transponder-timed event that will run out and back on the beautiful and scenic park paths in Mokena. Post-race activities include refreshments, entertainment, awards ceremony and kids' dashes. For more information or to register for the race, click here.

Current Funding Opportunities

Apply for the HealthierUS Schools Challenge Grant--Due April 1, 2013

The due date for the Illinois School HealthierUS School Challenge Request for Proposal has been extended to April 1, 2013. Through USDA’s 2012 Team Nutrition and Training Grant, the Division of Nutrition and Wellness Programs and the IL Action for Healthy Kids team will be awarding over 40 schools with mini-grants of $940.00 to help them prepare to meet the HealthierUS School Challenge criteria. The Request for Proposal for this competitive grant is posted here. The grant period begins May 1, 2013 and ends June 30, 2014.

Fuel Up to Play 60: Activity Scavenger Hunt Challenge (Deadline May 3, 2013) Students are encouraged to grab a camera, some friends and even school faculty to complete a list of activities to get everyone up and moving. Students are challenged to do activities such as jumping jacks with the principal and bicep curls with milk containers at home. By teaming up with classmates, teachers and families, students have the opportunity to learn how small bursts of activity throughout the day can easily add up to 60 minutes of play. See the Challenge Guidelines for a list of activities to help students win awesome prizes, like an NFL player leading PE class in fun football drills at your school! Be sure to submit your entry using the photo template on the Challenge page.

Fuel Up to Play 60 - Create Your Own Play Contest (Deadline April 1, 2013) Program Advisors, show us what your Fuel Up to Play 60 team is doing to create sustainable change in your school’s Healthy Eating and Physical Activity environment. Share your school’s custom-made Play in our new Create Your Own Play contest! One Healthy Eating Play and one Physical Activity Play that best meets the guidelines of how to create sustainable change in a school wellness environment will be chosen by a panel of judges. Winners will receive a Fuel Up to Play 60 Prize Pack valued at $2,500. And the winning Plays will be added to the Fuel Up to Play 60 Playbook for the 2013/2014 school year and will be named after the winning school. Log into your Dashboard and click on the Create Your Own Play tab to submit your Play!

Our Latest News

Congratulations to our 2012 Chicago Marathon Every Kid Healthy Team! Our 32 runners supported Action for Healthy Kids and ran 26.2 miles on Sunday October 7, 2012. Check out the pictures here.

Team Healthy Kids is for anyone who wants kids to be healthy and wants to do something about it! Whether you want to run a marathon, host a local event, walk a 5K or simply support someone who is already signed up, this is the right place for you. Whatever you choose to do, your efforts will help schools provide good food and fitness programs for kids. Learn more about Team Healthy Kids here.

Looking ahead

Our goals are to:

• Educate students on healthy living and how to make changes in their school to impact health.
• Train schools to use Fuel Up to Play 60 to increase awareness of wellness programs in schools.
• Recruit community members to become change agents for health in their school communities.

Get Involved.

There are many opportunities to get involved with Action for Healthy Kids in Illinois--from becoming a team member, to attending Action for Healthy Kids’ events, to making a financial contribution--you can help create a safer environment for our kids! Please contact Hannah Laughlin for more information.

If you feel compelled to lend your voice to one of most important issues of our time, and would like to take that first step towards creating a healthier environment for our kids, join the Action for Healthy Kids community by taking the Every Kid Healthy Pledge on the left-hand side of the page.

Our Favorite Resources

•  A Parent’s Guide to School Wellness Policies A brochure created in conjunction with the Illinois Nutrition Education Training program to educate parents about local wellness policies
• Fuel Up to Play 60 through Midwest Dairy Learn more about the Fuel Up to Play 60 program and how you can sign up your school and become involved today!

Contact Us