September, 2013
 
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Welcome from CATCH USA!
Senator Kirk Watson (right) presenting me Proclamation 903

It is always wonderful when we get recognized for our efforts and in this month's newsletter we want to highlight some of the great things happening with CATCH across the country. 

 

We will start right here in Texas where we were honored recently by the state legislature and State Senator Kirk Watson for improving the health of the children in Texas. Senator Watson is a great champion for child health and his recognition of CATCH and the University of Texas-School of Public Health was a wonderful way to get our year started. 

 

What's New in the CATCH World? 
We always like to hear from our CATCH communities and this month we share some news of what is happening in Michigan and Illinois. Many of you have sent along your web links with your stories and pictures and we have posted those in our CATCH Communities section. We also just had a great webinar with Peter Holtgrave of the Oasis Institute. They are doing some fantastic work across the country with CATCH and if you missed it you can still catch it here. Good job Peter!

 

The Healthy U Team in New Jersey have a new video that we are showing on the home page of CATCH USA. Healthy U is a great partnership between the YMCA's of New Jersey and The Horizon Foundation (Blue Cross/Blue Shield). We encourage everyone to watch this short video and see what can happen when two dedicated organizations work together.

Megan Conklin, MPH
 
Kacey Hanson, MPH
I also want to recognize two people I have worked with over the years here at The University of Texas. Megan Conklin and Kacey Hanson have had an incredible impact on middle schools across the state and their efforts have not gone unnoticed. 

Due to their hard work, the UT CATCH Team has successfully disseminated the CATCH Middle School Program in over 300 Texas middle schools this last year. Each school received two days of training and will continue to get support from Megan and Kacey. Terrific work Megan and Kacey! 
 
Back to school
If you missed our Back to School newsletter you can still pick up great tips by clicking here.    
 
As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or comments or just to let us know what's new at your school or after-school organization. We love to hear your stories!

 

Peter Cribb, National CATCH Director 
Around the country
Welcome Michigan! 
We all know that the CATCH programs can be found most anywhere these days, even in the upper Michigan peninsula. Neatly tucked between Canada, Wisconsin and Minnesota, the peninsula touches three Great Lakes, Michigan, Superior and Huron. For a year now the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department and Sara Salo (health education coordinator) have been running the "CATCH UP" program (UP stands for "upper peninsula). 
CATCH UP Training
 
Sara recently held a CATCH UP training for her schools and CATCH Trainer Jo Ambrose reports a great turnout with teachers and principals rounding out her class. "Sara is doing some very good work up there with both K-5 and after-school" reports Jo. She also reported that a CATCH UP website is up with great pictures and stories. 
 
The local press has even gotten involved so please don't miss the story provided by The Daily Mining Gazette
on CATCH UP. Good Job! 
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CATCH Communities
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  CATCH is in all 50 states

 

In last month's newsletter we asked our CATCH communities to share some of their stories and success with us. The response was incredible and we wanted to highlight a few of the responses we received. 

A few of you sent along stories and pictures which we appreciate (see stories below) and many sent along links to news stories and websites. 

 
Cleveland, Ohio
Mandel Jewish Community Center 
 
Jared at the Series!
Jared with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at this year's Little League World Series
Subway spokesman and CATCH supporter Jared Fogle was invited to meet fans and families at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, PA this past month. Jared discussed his foundation (Jared Foundation) and their role in helping to prevent childhood obesity. 
 
The Jared Foundation supports CATCH and Jared can be found traveling the country delivering his obesity prevention message. Jared is celebrating his 15 year of maintaining a healthy weight.
 
Read more about Jared and The Jared Foundation mission here. 
 
Learn more about Jared and CATCH at CATCH USA .
Upcoming Funding Opportunities
We know it's difficult for communities to keep their programs funded, that's why we are here to help point you to opportunities as they arise.

We try hard at CATCH USA to keep our grant and funding page updated, so if you haven't visited the site yet we encourage you to do so. 

There are links for some great funding opportunities along with the materials you need to include the CATCH Programs in your proposals.

We are here at CATCH USA to help you get things started.
 
CATCH Letters
Northern Illinois University Training

 

CATCH USA gets letters and notes all the time from our communities and we wanted to share one Peter recently received from Lisa Cumings in DeKalb, Illinois. The community hospital there plays a big role in disseminating CATCH and as stakeholders have taken a unique approach in getting the program in the classroom. Seems they have recruited Northern Illinois University students as instructors.

 

We have seen these types of partnerships more and more in our communities with hospitals, universities, health departments, school districts and after-school organizations, all working together. 

 

Here is Lisa's update...

 

 

Hello Peter,

We did a CATCH training with our Northern Illinois Students yesterday!  We had over 50 of them in the areas of PE, Health, Kinesiology and Dietetics. They are the ones that teach our CATCH lessons in the classroom throughout the year.  We added educational resource bins for all the schools that the NIU instructors can use for the classroom. I will send more pictures. 

Contents of the instructor kits 
Also, we conducted a "CATCH Teachers Academy" a couple of weeks ago to involve the teachers in the planning of the lessons and educating them on the concepts of CATCH. We received a lot of positive feedback and hope they will go back to their schools as "CATCH champions"!!!!  

 

If you would like more information on either of these I am very happy to share!

 

Lisa

 

Lisa Cumings RN, BSN, MEd.

Community Health Liaison

Kishwaukee Community Hospital

 
eaththerainbowAs this school year unfolds, we encourage our CATCH communities to share your success with others. There is no better way to do that than to send us your stories and pictures. We can spread your good news and get those healthy messages out to others. 

Have something new you are trying this year? Let us know and we'll share your ideas and success with others. 
 
You can email your stories and pictures to us at: info@CATCHUSA.org

We look forward to hearing from you!