A recent study by the NYC Departments of Health and Education found that a staggering 43% of children in the city’s public elementary schools are overweight. This rate is over three times the national average. In addition, black children were over 40% more likely to be obese than their white counterparts, and Latino children twice as likely. Moreover, a 1999 report in Pediatrics found that children in low-income families are at significantly greater risk of being overweight than children from wealthier families. In Central Harlem, where blacks and Latinos comprise over 90% of the population and where 60% of children live in poverty, child obesity is endemic and directly related to the community’s extremely elevated rates of pediatric asthma, depression, and diabetes.

The Girls Fitness & Nutrition Program addresses the rising incidence of pediatric obesity in Harlem by offering its participants a supportive environment in which they grow in health knowledge and self-confidence and develop healthy lifestyle habits that endure beyond their participation in the program. Weekly program sessions include:

• Nutrition Education - Participants and volunteers explore balanced, appealing, and culturally-appropriate food options through a curriculum of games, field trips, discussions, and hands-on food preparation activities.

• Physical Activity - Recognizing that traditional sports are often intimidating to overweight girls, each program session incorporates an alternative exercise activity. These have included, among others, swimming, African and hip-hop dance, and yoga.

• Mentoring - With volunteers’ support, participants record their personal goals and track their accomplishments in healthy eating and exercise. Individual relationships between each girl and her volunteer mentor promote girls’ self-confidence and help them translate program curriculum into healthy habits.