Welcome to Healthy Children Healthy Futures (HCHF)
A program of Healthy Directions

The HCHF Program recognizes the critical need to address the epidemic of overweight, obesity, and lack of physical activity among our nation's children.

Originally developed by Strang Cancer Prevention Center in 2001 with support from MetLife Foundation, our goal is to promote programs to help children, parents, and grandparents become advocates — in their families, homes, schools, and communities — for healthy eating and increased physical activity.

In seven cities, HCHF continues to expand. As part of its growth, HCHF added new partners in 2007-2008: American Academy of Pediatrics, Generations United, Action for Healthy Kids, and “I HAVE A DREAM” FOUNDATION. 

HCHF will continue its relationship with the clinical and research arms of the Weill Cornell Medical College, establishing collaborative projects with  the Department of Pediatrics.

The HCHF Program targets three family groups:

Children

Young people are offered a process and a forum to educate their peers, families, and communities about healthy eating and physical activities through media messaging.  The health literacy messages, by and for children, and in the format of posters, radio, and video, are reviewed by peers and then disseminated through a variety of school and community-based networks.  This program component, primarily after-school, also includes physical activity and cooking activities.

Parents

The parent component, based on an innovative parent-to-parent mentoring model, supports parents as role models for healthy choices.  It also supports family/parent health literacy in the home to fully complement the child component.

Grandparents

In 2007-2008, the HCHF program added the Healthy Grand Families component -- an intergenerational pilot demonstration that engaged grandparents as key influences in the lives of their grandchildren for making healthy choices. This initiative was developed in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics and Generations United.  It features the pediatrician as an educator in a community setting, reaching out to grandparents in their own neighborhoods employing a culturally competent health literacy approach.