
For years, Meadowlands YMCA’s mission promoted healthy living, youth development, and social responsibility to the kids at their center. For that reason, it was in director Ellen Daly’s best interest to team with any organization that would help her fulfill her center’s goal of nurturing healthy eaters. Although Ellen’s staff have been educated in healthy […]

Maria Lignos, director of Jack in the Box Schools in New Jersey, noticed that the children’s desire to play outdoors was decreasing. The children preferred to stay indoors and play with iPads, video games and other electronic devices. Although some of these devices were educational, Maria and her staff felt the children were not being […]

Through the National Early Care and Education Learning Collaboratives project, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded Nemours Children’s Health System to support the spread and scale of best practices related to obesity prevention in early care and education (ECE) settings. For five years (2011 – 2016), Nemours and CDC worked with grantees […]

The Learning Place in New Jersey cares for children from 2 months to 6 years old. At the very first learning session of the Collaborative, the staff found out how to provide optimal and appropriate accommodations for breastfeeding within their program. The staff quickly recognized that their early care and education (ECE) center did not […]

Prior to enrolling in the National Early Care and Education Learning Collaborative (ECELC) program, staff at C.A.R.E. for Me Children’s Learning Center in Pennsauken Township, New Jersey, neither monitored the food children brought from home nor did they promote family style meals. The food many parents were providing were unhealthy and it was quite difficult […]

Michelle Newman, Owner and Director of Beachwood Nursery School in New Jersey, says she improved breastfeeding policies because of participating in the National ECELC Project.