Healthy Children Healthy Futures
About US a For Parents a For Kids a For Grandparents a For Schools a Materials


About Us

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.

The Healthy Children Healthy Futures program targets underserved young people, ages 9-13, in several of our country's larger urban areas — Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore, Chicago, Houston, and Dallas.

Healthy Children Healthy Futures contiues to expand with new programs for children, parents and grandparents.

In the Children's program, 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 print, radio, and video/social media, 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.

The Parent program is, 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.

In 2007-2008, HCHF added the Healthy Grand Families program, 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. 

Our program partners include:

Action for Healthy Kids
www.actionforhealthykids.org

After-School All-Stars (The Arnold Schwarzenegger Youth Foundation)
www.afterschoolallstars.org

After-School All-Stars of New York
www.asasny.com

The After-School Institute (Baltimore)
www.afterschoolinstitute.org

American Academy of Pediatrics
www.aap.org        

Chicago Public Schools/After-School All-Stars
www.cpafterschool.org

Community Council of Greater Dallas
www.ccgd.org

Cooperative After-School Enrichment
www.hcde-texas.org

Generations United
www.gu.org

“I HAVE A DREAM” FOUNDATION
www.ihaveadreamfoundation.org

LA’s Best After-School Enrichment Program
www.lasbest.org

Mentoring USA  
www.mentoringusa.org

New York City Department of Education
schools.nyc.gov

Race With Purpose
www.racewithpurpose.org

Shaping America’s Youth
www.shapingamericasyouth.org

TASC  
www.tascorp.org

 

 


National Director
BJ Carter, MS

Advisory Board

Chairperson
Woodie Kessel, MD
Former Assistant Surgeon General (Ret.)

Former Chairperson
Matilda Raffa Cuomo
Mentoring USA
Former First Lady --NY

Board Members

Dorothy Adams
Dispute Settlement Center Inc.

Heidi Arthur
The Advertising Council Inc.

Amanda Birnbaum, PhD
Montclair State University

Sharon Bush
Development Consultant

Hon. Ilene Zatkin-Butler, JD

Angelica Cantlon
International Flavors and Fragrances

Bruce Charash, MD
Doc to Dock

Alwyn Cohall, MD
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University

Anna Maria Cugliari
Former Strategic Planner
Sesame Workshop

Stacy Curtin
TV Producer

Thom Gatewood
Former Member, NY Giants
Blue Atlas Productions

Leslie Goldman
NY Academy of Medicine

Freddi Greenberg
Former Editor
NICK Jr. Magazine

Keith Hernandez,
Former Member of New York Mets
Sportscaster


Susan L. Hirshman,
JP Morgan Private Wealth Management

Avrum L. Katcher, MD FAAP
American Academy of Pediatrics

Joan Liebmann-Smith PhD,
Medical Sociologist/Author

Richard Lipkin

Gerald M. Loughlin, MD
Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Michael P. Osborne, MD
Beth Israel Medical Center

Clarence Pearson
WHO, The United Nations

Paula Veale
The Advertising Council, Inc.

Diane Whitty
The Partnership for a Drug Free America

Christine L. Williams, MD, MPH
Healthy Directions Inc.
Healthy Start

Karen Wish
Morgan Stanly Childrens Hospital
New York Presbyterian

Special Advisor to the Board
Howell Wechsler, Ed.D., MPH
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

 

Sponsors

 

Managed by Charles Potter, Seapotter Corporation