NAP SACC receives Blue Cross Blue Shield grant to expand program
| April 16, 2012 | |
The Nutritional and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (NAP SACC) program, developed to help improve nutrition and physical activity environments in child care centers and programs, recently received a $600,000 grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation. NAP SACC will use the grant to develop an engaging and interactive online tool that can be used directly by child care providers.
Dr. Dianne Ward
NAP SACC, begun in 2001, aims to promote healthy eating and physical activity in young children in child care and preschool settings. Dianne Ward, EdD, professor of nutrition and research fellow at the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, serves as project director. “Most of the funds will be spent in developing web programming and technology to create a user-friendly, attractive and quality product,” Ward said. “We also will test the effectiveness of the new product with a sample of child care facilities.” The grant also will be used to update the program’s recommendations, better serve infants and toddlers, address family child care homes and develop the program online to facilitate wider use, Ward said. Jennifer MacDougall, senior program officer for Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Healthy Active Communities focus area, brought the NAP SACC proposal to the foundation. The foundation values “innovation, sustainability, creativity and partnership,” she said. They also seek out leadership and subject matter experts when selecting programs that will receive grants. “NAP SACC was chosen to receive this grant because of the strong outcomes it produced in an earlier investment,” MacDougall said. Such strong outcomes are due to NAP SACC’s structure and components. Program components include a self-assessment instrument, continuing education workshops, collaborative action planning, technical assistance materials and an extensive resource manual. Although the program was developed in North Carolina with that state’s systems in mind, Ward explained that the popular program now is used across the United States and internationally. “The NAP SACC program gives child care providers a set of specific “best practices” for nutrition and physical activity at child care that support the development of healthy child weight,” said Ward. “Because of the popularity of the program nationwide, thousands of children have been exposed to improved policies, practices and environments at child care.” Read more about NAP SACC online. UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Linda Kastleman, communications editor, (919) 966-8317 or linda_kastleman@unc.edu. |
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