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We Can!® Community Sites and Partners Hit a Home Run

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Posted June 14‚ 2010

Put down the peanuts and cracker jacks! Say whoa to that hot dog and go slow on the ballpark snacks! We Can!'s spring training is in full swing!

From Florida to Maine to Illinois, community sites and partners across the country are helping members of their communities to live healthier lives by hosting We Can! regional trainings. In April, the bases were loaded as three trainings took place in Augusta, Maine; Stuart, Florida; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Two additional trainings took place in May in Newark, Delaware and Chicago, Illinois. And, the training in Maine garnered local media coverage on two different channels. Check out the stories at the following links:

  • http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=116402&catid=2
  • http://www.myfoxmaine.com/news/90339174.html

The trainings, which include two full days of interactive sessions on the We Can! program and its curricula, teach participants the fundamentals of the program, as well as how to implement We Can! programming in a variety of city, county, and community settings.

At the regional training in Pittsburgh, Angela Seals, Program Manager at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, discussed the ways in which the Museum uses We Can! to encourage families to "change the way we think about the way we play," while Kay Owens, Project Director at HEALTHY Armstrong—a We Can! County—discussed how Armstrong County's use of We Can! led to policy changes in their public schools' cafeterias in partnership with UPMC Health Plan.

We Can! regional trainings also give participants the opportunity to connect with other community members interested in achieving similar goals in creating and sustaining healthy living.

"Many of the participants not only enjoyed the opportunity to learn from the national team, but they also enjoyed networking with others in the community interested in addressing the issues surrounding children's activity and nutrition," said Donna Goodwin, Program Coordinator at the Martin County Health Department and host of the We Can! regional training in Stuart, Florida.

The regional trainings have had a broad impact; 687 people registered for the seven trainings that were held through May of this year. If you were not able to attend but are still interested, keep an eye out for additional training opportunities being planned for the fall. Or, if you don't want to wait that long, you can get trained on our Parent Program without even leaving your desk by checking out our online training page.

Last Updated: February 13, 2013