What kind of commitments have you had to make in your life? Take stock in that for a few minutes. 

When you sit down and think about it, you probably have made quite a few. At work, perhaps you committed to doing a great job and giving your all every day. Or maybe you’ve committed yourself to a particular project that you want to follow through for success. You’ve probably made personal commitments to yourself, someone close to you or even friends. 

When we commit ourselves to something, we are dedicated and loyal to that cause and it is important to do that in our lives. 

Last year, NRPA committed, in a big way, to help improve the health and wellness of our nation’s youth by implementing a set of standards in out-of-school time programs at park and recreation sites across the country. These are the programs that kids attend before school, after school and in the summer.

Why is this important?

Simply stated, this is the first generation of children who will live shorter lives than their parents. We know park and recreation agencies across the country are increasingly a part of the solution to solving the childhood obesity crisis by providing improved access to nutritious foods and increased opportunities for physical activity.

This month we are celebrating the one-year anniversary of the launch of the Commit to Health campaign. This past year, 486 park and recreation sites pledged to implement the Healthy Eating, Physical Activity (HEPA) standards. Check out this infographic and you can see some of the key highlights from this year:

 

 

As we take a moment to celebrate those that have already pledged to implement the HEPA standards, we also want to take this opportunity to encourage additional sites to commit and be part of the solution to a healthier generation of children.

The HEPA standards can help your agency provide children in your community healthy environments during those ever so critical out-of-school hours. View a full list of the standards and take the pledge!

 

What commitments have you made? If you pledged a site in 2014, why did you commit? What would committing to health and the standards mean for your agency? Leave a comment below or tweet us  @NRPA_news #CommitToHealth.  

 

Kellie May is NRPA's Senior Program Manager.