Schools as "Laboratories" for Obesity Prevention: Proven Effective Models

Obesity prevention laboratories are created and sustained through community partners. With the school as a hub of good nutrition and healthy living in action, the messages filter out into the community organically. Using an evidence-based "umbrella" tool such as the OWG CSP and linkages to sustainable funding mechanisms such as the USDA SNAP-Ed nutrition program allows a wide variety of partnerships to develop to share consistent healthy messaging specific to each laboratory partner organizations' causes. Integration of an obesity prevention program that fits well within established programs and agendas, including coordinated school health, poses the greatest opportunity for community-wide health improvement. The true power of these laboratories lies in community collaborations of diverse organizations.