We’ve pulled together useful tools and resources that will help you understand the issue as you plan your organizing and policy advocacy work. Bookmark this page so you won't miss any updates!
Policy Briefs
Research
School Initiatives
News Articles
Case Studies
Multimedia
Additional Online Resources
Communities Can Play a Role in Preventing Childhood Obesity, Institute of Medicine, September 2004
Designed for Disease: The Link Between Local Food Environments and Obesity and Diabetes, California Center for Public Health Advocacy, PolicyLink, and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, April 2008
Food Marketers Greenwash Junk Food: Companies Tout Link to Health and Environmental Movements, Berkeley Media Studies Group, March 2008
Health Equity "Treatment" for the Root causes of Obesity by Jeff Goldhagen, MD, MPH Northeast Florida Medicine, Vol. 58, 2007
Searching for Healthy Food, California Center for Public Health Advocacy, January 2007
Low-Income Adolescents Face More Barriers to Healthy Weight by Theresa A. Hastert, Susan H. Babey, Allison L. Diamant and E. Richard Brown, December 2008
Achieving Health Equity: From Root Causes to Fair Outcomes,The World Health Organization, 2007
Ounces of Prevention: The Public Policy Case for Taxes on Sugared Beverages,The New England Journal of Medicine, April 2009
A Cross-Sectional Prevalence Study of Ethnically Targeted and General Audience Outdoor Obesity-Related Advertising,The Milbank Quarterly, March 2009
Closing The Gap: Solutions to Race-Based Health Disparities, Applied Research Center & Northwest Federation of Community Organizations, Summer 2005
2007 Report The Foundation for Child Development Child and Youth Well-Being Index (CWI) 1975-2005, with Projections for 2006,a composite index of trends in the well-being of America’s children and youth, Foundation for Child Development, April 2007
The Neglected Link Between Food Marketing and Childhood Obesity in Poor Neighborhoods, Population Reference Bureau July 2006
Building Healthy Communities: Expanding Access to Fresh Food Retail, New Orleans Food Advisory Committee 2007
New Study Finds Overweight Linked to Poor Community Environment EurekAlert!, Saint Louis University
Strategies for Enhancing the Built Environment to Support Healthy Eating and Active Living focuses on opportunities to support healthy eating and active living through issues related to the built environment and emphasizes cross-sectoral and environmental change approaches, Convergence Partnership, prepared by the Prevention Institute, 2008
Innovative Charter School in Chicago Shares Its Secrets of Success in Fighting Childhood Obesity, Obesitydiscussion.com, February 2007
Fighting for Fitness: Educational Institutions Step into the Ring by Evantheia Schibsted, Edutopia.org, December 2, 2005
Concern over Safety Soaring in Hub Area The Boston Globe, November 13, 2008
Bill Moyers and author Michael Pollan on The Journal: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11282008/watch.html, November 2008
Food Fight: Sparring Over School Snacks Sternstein, Aliya Congressional Quarterly Weekly – In Focus, September 15, 2008
Council bans new fast-food outlets in South LA Los Angeles Times, June 30, 2008
It's Not Just Genetics TIME, June 12, 2008
Young Lives at Risk: Our Overweight Children, a 5-part Washington Post Series, May 2008
Obesity and Poverty Temper Progress in Kids’ Well-Being The Washington Post March 30, 2005
Progressive Policies Database Collection, an annotated and multidisciplinary collection of model local policies, programs, and initiatives on topics related to health and social justice. The database contains policies reflecting realities from urban communities to Native lands with an emphasis on health and social justice issues.
ENACT Local Policies Tool, is a searchable database that provides concrete examples of sample policies that have been implemented to improve food and recreation environments.
Mapping the Movement for Healthy Food and Activity Environments in the United States Summary summarizes the innovative efforts of organizations advocating for improvements in food and activity environments within predominantly low-income neighborhoods and with African American and Latino residents.
www.unnaturalcauses.org, a seven-part documentary produced by California Newsreel asks, "Is inequality making us sick?" and explores racial and socioeconomic health disparities.
NPR News & Notes: Looking for Solutions to Childhood Obesity, Host Tony Cox leads a panel of health experts, including Makani Themba-Nixon, June 19, 2008
Health Justice Report Card
Click here to track data and see where your county stands on a variety of health justice indicators, a tool kit to support policy advocacy and organizing, and model policies to help you move from data to action to community change.
THRIVE: Tool for Health & Resilience in Vulnerable Environments helps you understand and prioritize the factors within your own community that can help improve health and safety.
Environmental Nutrition and Activity Community Tool (ENACT)
A concrete menu of strategies designed to help communities improve nutrition and activity environments locally.
Interactive Food & Beverage Marketing Targeting Children and Youth of Color summarizes the newest frontier in food marketing--digital advertising aimed directly at our kids. Visit this website to sign up for updates that provide real time monitoring of companies' current practices.
Ban Junk Food Advertising to Kids is an Australian movement to ban junk food advertisements aimed at children. Visit this website to see how they are mobilizing parents and health groups against junk food.
