Sustaining Your Building Healthy Communities Program

Welcome (back) to Building Healthy Communities!
Welcome back to the Building Healthy Communities program! Whether your school recently participated in the BHC program, or several years have passed, we’re glad that you’re interested in continuing to foster a healthy school environment in your building.

Since the launch of the original Building Healthy Communities program in 2009, we’ve helped nearly 400 elementary schools with healthy school transformations, and over 150,000 students have benefited as a result. When schools participate in Building Healthy Communities, the results are awesome! The program has been proven to:

  • improve children’s nutrition,
  • increase physical activity,
  • prevent and reduce childhood obesity, and
  • increase academic performance.

And now, we’re committed to ensuring that you can maintain your healthy school transformation long after your year of implementation. As a BHC alumni school, you’ll have continued access to all the program components which will help to promote a healthy school environment well into the future.

Promoting a healthy school environment is more important now than ever – in the last two years, children have been increasingly inactive and spent a lot more time on screens. We know that their practices during the school day – the food they eat, their activity levels, what they learn about health and wellness – play an important part in establishing life-long, positive health behaviors. The Building Healthy Communities program provides the resources and support to integrate health and wellness initiatives throughout the school day. We’ll help you make the healthy choices easy ones!

Before you get started on reengaging with Building Healthy Communities, as an Alumni Administrator, we’d like to hear about how you’ve sustained the program in your building.
Take this (very short!) survey and we’ll send you a $25 Amazon gift card to show our appreciation (Limit of 1 gift  card per school location):

The Building Healthy Communities Model
In the last few years, our programming has evolved to include eight components, and we’ve added important resources to support all dimensions of student wellness. We’ve expanded the program offerings to include trauma-sensitive schooling and family resources, updated our nutrition lessons, and added additional physical activity and physical education materials to ensure that children have many opportunities to make healthy choices throughout the school day. We’ve also included all these resources on the Building Healthy Communities website to ensure that schools and teachers have convenient access to our resources at any time.

There are some fairly easy ways that you can integrate the program components into your building to sustain your healthy community.  Get ideas for easy implementation and learn more about the support we can provide your school. Extra funds are available this year! Click on each category below!

  • Healthy Tips of the Day – via calendar (great for PA announcements) and graphic posts (great for social media)
  • Newsletter resources – great for communicating with families
  • Wellness policy resources to promote healthy behaviors in your schools

Do you need BHC Signage? Apply below.

Where to find this information:

  • Comprehensive virtual nutrition lessons that include plug-and-play videos, classroom activities, and a range of instructional resources.
  • A wide range of physical activity breaks videos and activities categorized to meet objectives – whether used to energize students or calm them down.

Where to find this information:

  • Full EPEC curriculum
  • Diverse, standards-based PE resources great for supplementing classroom lessons or using in the virtual environment
  • PE professional development
  • Support for equipment replacement from Gopher Sports

Does your PE equipment need a refresh?

Apply for support for PE equipment below.

Where to find this information:

  • Virtual video library of recess games
  • Professional Development training for recess staff
  • Game library to promote active recess
  • Support for equipment replacement from Gopher Sports

Does your recess equipment need a refresh?

Apply for support for recess equipment below.

Where to find this information:

  • Templates for recruitment flyers and permission slips
  • Sample letters to request funding from the PTA for an after-school club
  • Virtual video library of recess games
  • Game library to promote activity

Do you need support for running a Healthy Kids Club after school physical activity program?

Apply for support below.

Where to find this information:

  • Video training series for staff on trauma-sensitive practices
  • Professional development resources and presentations
  • Resources for implementing trauma-sensitive practices in elementary schools

BHC can offer a range of support for trauma sensitive schooling practices.

If you’re interested in hosting a professional development, please let us know below.

Where to find this information:

  • Newsletters to engage families in healthy behaviors
  • Supplemental materials (“healthy homework”) to reinforce classroom nutrition lessons
  • Family resources for nutrition education and physical activity opportunities
  • PTA resources to help promote family involvement in healthy school environments

Where to find this information:

  • We work with program partners to promote nutritious food offerings and effective foodservice logistics in elementary schools. Contact your Alumni coordinator to determine your eligibility or apply for funding to support school meals in your building.

Where to find this information:

Whether you are just getting to know the Building Healthy Communities program after many years, or are recently familiar with the program, we have developed this Alumni orientation to assist you in continuing to ensure your school is a healthy place to learn. Click on any of the components in the orientation to learn more about sustaining the BHC program in your school.

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Contact your Alumni coordinator:

The Building Healthy Communities program is run with the help of our program partners:

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