Healthy Active Children
Healthy Active Children program envisions a nation whose children lead healthy active lives from birth onward.
Goal
- A nation that values and exemplifies a healthy active way of living for children from birth to 18
Objectives
- To foster attitudes and behaviours that will lead children to pursue healthy, active lives and
- To increase the participation of children and their families in initiatives that result in healthy, active lives.
In 2011, the Foundation launched a new program, Healthy Active Children. Healthy Active Children builds on our historical interest in the capacity and power of families and communities to enrich the quality of life. The program’s creation follows a thoughtful exploration phase to learn how children benefit from leading healthy active lives and how society benefits when the overall health of children and families improves. To inform the exploration, we consulted with experts and leaders across Canada to determine how to ensure the Foundation’s limited grant dollars have maximum impact. We appreciate the guidance and advice many knowledgeable individuals have shared with us.
GRANTS AWARDED
Active Healthy Kids Canada
$2,156,500 2007-2013
Active Healthy Kids Canada (AHKC) Annual Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth from 2007 through to 2013 - production and dissemination: To support AHKC to produce the annual Report Card and disseminate it broadly. The Report Card provides a comprehensive measurement of how well Canada supports physical activity opportunities for children and youth through the analysis of national data by a volunteer research group.
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine
$41,000 2010
Centre of Excellence for Early Child Development - Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development: To help support the development of a high quality Encyclopedia entry on physical activity in young children, including a synthesis of available knowledge, articles by leading experts, commentaries, leaflets outlining key messages for parents and service providers, and a bulletin. The Centre of Excellence for Early Child Development disseminates scientific knowledge on early child development through various means, including the Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development. The Encyclopedia is a unique, easily accessible and free resource that compiles the world's best scientific knowledge on early childhood development.
Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Foundation
$508,250 2010-2014
Junior Research Chairs Program: Increasing Canadian Capacity for Pediatric Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research. Training program for young researchers interested in prevention to eventually reduce and reverse the trends in unhealthy living behaviours that precipitate childhood obesity and premature cardio-metabolic disease. This investment in research and leadership capacity is focused on increasing the prevalence of healthy behaviours in all children to keep healthy kids healthy, to mitigate the inactivity and obesity crisis, and to help shift the public’s current focus on obesity to an interest in health promotion. The Lawson Foundation’s grant is matched by the CHEO Foundation.
Physical & Health Education Canada (PHE Canada)
$1,228,000 2010-2013
Health Promoting Schools (HPS): To support the development, dissemination and evaluation of HPS, including HPS promotion and training, biennial national health conference, start-up grants for schools, and recognition/certification of HPS schools. HPS is a comprehensive, holistic approach to school health to ensure what students are learning and the environment where they learn, work, and play are conducive to healthy living. The dissemenination and uptake of Health Promoting Schools* is a Canada-wide initiative to support a broad spectrum of activities and services within schools and their communities to help children enhance their health and develop to their full potential. The initiative will promote and support systemic change to address issues related to physical activity, healthy eating and emotional well-being that ensures every child has the opportunity to be nurtured in supportive environments.
*According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “A health promoting school is one that constantly strengthens its capacity as a healthy setting for living, learning and working.”
$360,000 2011-2013
Canada'a Working Together Initiative (WTI) - A Continuing Opportunity for Social and Public Service Innovation: To support the work of the WTI for three years to further explore the potential for social sector and public service innovation in sport and physical activity, including the implementation of additional prototype/pilot projects. The WTI, a platform for shared learning and doing, brings together leaders from the sport and physical activity sectors and senior public servants to learn how to work across boundaries to make a difference in community. It is a process to help address complex multi-faceted challenges that are beyond the capacity of a single organization, sector or department. WTI’s focus is to enable change that spans traditional sectoral and departmental boundaries, leading to social and public sector innovation. During its first three years (2008-10), three pilot projects focused on youth, newcomers to Canada and Aboriginal Peoples were launched to test the WTI concept.
