Altarum Institute’s Center for Healthy Child and Youth Development played a leadership role in the Partnership for a Healthier America’s Building a Healthier Future Summit, which took place on November 29–30 in Washington, DC. As the operating foundation behind First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign, the Partnership works with the private sector to garner commitments of significance to end childhood obesity within a generation. More than 800 corporate and civic leaders gathered for the Partnership’s inaugural summit, which featured the First Lady as the honorary chairwoman.

The Center for Healthy Child and Youth Development convened and moderated the Early Childhood Track at the summit, alongside three other tracks led by The Food Trust; Alliance for a Healthier Generation; and the President’s Council for Physical Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition. The Early Childhood Track focused on building new relationships with the business community to generate private-sector-driven commitments in support of healthy child care settings. Specifically, the track included five breakout sessions that focused on healthy food procurement, fixed and portable play equipment, educational and technology resources, and professional development and worksite wellness for child care providers. The track was attended by 125 participants from the business, government, academic, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors.

Other event highlights included an array of announcements of commitments to the Partnership for obesity prevention, including the YMCA of the USA, Hyatt Hotels, New Horizon Academy, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Kaiser Permanente.

Notably, the YMCA announced Altarum as the evaluator for their commitment to creating healthier early childhood and afterschool programs that serve more than 700,000 youth. Over the next 3 years, the Center will conduct a third-party evaluation to verify the YMCA’s achievement of their commitment to standards on physical activity, healthy eating, and screen time.