CATCH Champion for January 2008

Cindy Culver and Stephanie Pisano

Food & Nutrition Supervisor/Public Health Educator

Cobb County School District/Cobb & Douglas Public Health

Improving the health and wellness of youth within Cobb County is a priority to both the Cobb County School District and Cobb & Douglas Public Health. Childhood obesity is a significant problem among our youth, leading to a number of chronic diseases previously unheard of before adulthood. By implementing this program with our youth, our hope is to change the environment for all of our residents. Eating right and being physically active will become the norm in our community. It is important to enable our young students to make healthy decisions when it comes to physical activity and healthy eating, becoming the natural thing to do.

When did you adopt the CATCH Program and what prompted you to do so?

We began implementation of the CATCH Kids Club at the beginning of the 07/08 school year. Our goal is to get CKC into all of the ASP programs within the district. We are currently over half way to our goal! We decided to implement the CKC because it is a turn-key program that can be used in all schools. It is very easy to implement and the students and staff love the program!

Describe notable changes since implementing CATCH and how you know CATCH is working.

There haven't been measurable changes yet, since we just implemented the program earlier this school year. We know that CKC is working because we are receiving excellent feedback from the schools, and the fact that most of our ASP programs are now focused on physical activity and nutrition is a change as well. The CKC kits are being used on a regular basis at 35 schools within the district. We are constantly distributing kits to new schools. Dietetic Interns have also become an important part of the CKC program. They go out to the schools and facilitate nutrition lessons as a part of their internship requirements.

What are the keys to your success?

We believe that one of the biggest keys to our success was the CKC Implementation Training that was held for ASP staff the week before the school year started. This training got ASP staff so excited and motivated about the program that they began implementing the program right away. Through a grant from the Georgia Department of Human Resources, Cobb & Douglas Public Health was able to purchase a kit for every elementary school and provide the training free of charge. The ability to provide a kit to every school was very important because so many ASP programs do not have dollars in their budget to provide supplemental programming. We were also very fortunate to get support from the Cobb County School System's Director of Alternative Education and the Wellness Council Steering Committee. Support from within the school district is crucial when it comes to successful implementation of a program like CKC.

What was your most significant barrier and how did you overcome the challenge?

When we were first trained on the CATCH Kids Club, we knew that we wanted to bring the program to our community. Our biggest barrier was figuring out how we were going to get kits for all of our elementary schools. Less than a month after our training, Cobb & Douglas Public Health was presented with an opportunity to receive a grant from the Georgia Department of Human Resources. We were able to use those dollars to purchase the CKC kits and the training. The other barrier that we have had to face is limited classroom time for a program like CATCH Kids Club. By implementing CKC in the After-School Program, we have eliminated the need to use classroom time for the important messages included in CATCH.

What advice can you offer for those just beginning and for those who have already implemented the CATCH Program.

We believe that the CKC Implementation Training is great way to kick off the program and to get staff motivated! Our participants left the training excited and they were ready to take the steps necessary to implement the training. It is also important to have strong collaborations and partnerships to make the program a success. The partnership between the Cobb County School District and Cobb & Douglas Public Health has been crucial to the success of CATCH Kids Club within the district.

What has been the reaction from parents, administration, students and community?

We have received very positive feedback from everyone! The students and staff love CATCH Kids Club because it is so interactive and fun. They look forward to all of the activities and lessons.

What are your plans for the future? What is your CATCH vision?

We would like to see CATCH Kids Club in every elementary school within the district. In addition, we would love to see each school as a whole adopt aspects of the CATCH Program. We would also like to act as mentors to other local school districts who would like to implement the CATCH Kids Club.

How do you sustain the program from year to year?

As this is our initial implementation year, we have been able to sustain the program through the grant that we used to purchase the kits and the training. We are planning to assist the Douglas County School System to bring the CATCH Kids Club into their ASP programs in the next school year. In addition, our organizations support the time that both of us put towards the CATCH Kids Club. We hope to secure additional funds for continued training and implementation of the CATCH Kids Club in Cobb County.

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