South Bend Serves as a Mentor to New Site in Columbus, IN

Posted October 2, 2007

The We Can!® site in South Bend, IN, has been doing outreach work recently to serve as a mentor to newer We Can! sites in the area. South Bend site members attended the National Park and Recreation Association conference held in late September to meet with members of the new We Can! site in Columbus, IN. The two sites discussed possible partnerships and the South Bend site shared some of its experiences and lessons learned with the Columbus site.

Matt Bellina of the South Bend site met with the three organizations that are a part of the We Can! site in Columbus—Columbus Regional Hospital, Columbus Parks and Recreation, and Columbus Healthy Communities Initiative—after Columbus found the South Bend site on the We Can! website’s map of community sites. Matt shared with Columbus information on how effective and sustainable the We Can! program has been in South Bend and other communities. Columbus learned in the meeting that national recognition for We Can! means that it can be used to adapt or market current childhood obesity programming.

The Columbus site was also excited to learn that the program includes educational programs for parents as well as interactive programs like Media-Smart Youth® and CATCH Kids Club that get kids up and moving. Columbus left the meeting with some We Can! materials from South Bend, as well as a plan to regroup back in Columbus to see how soon they can get started with We Can! programming. Columbus will also be joining South Bend on a conference call with other We Can! community sites to get even more information and advice from more seasoned We Can! sites.