Welcome to Healthy Kids, Healthy Future TAP
TAP builds state and ECE program capacity to embed healthy eating and physical activity best practices into ECE settings and systems
Launched in 2018, Healthy Kids, Healthy Future Technical Assistance Program (HKHF TAP) is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and led by Nemours Children’s Health. Through HKHF TAP, Nemours provides on-going technical assistance (TA) and training resources to 11 state organizations. We support partners to embed healthy eating and physical activity best practices into early care and education (ECE). Among these best practices are ensuring toddlers and preschoolers receive fruits or vegetables at every meal and that babies have short periods of ‘tummy time’ every day.
Guided by the CDC’s Spectrum of Opportunities framework, Nemours collaborates with departments of health, child care resource and referral agencies, and other ECE organizations to accelerate the integration of best practices into broader state systems, such as TA networks, professional development, licensing, Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), and Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS).
HKHF TAP also includes the Physical Activity Learning Session (PALS) Project. PALS trains and coaches ECE and health staff that work directly with ECE programs (Head Start, Early HeadStart, child care, family child care, prekindergarten). PALS builds state capacity to support the promotion of physical activity best practices for infants and young children in ECE centers and family child care homes.
Nemours has provided funding, long-term TA, and other resources to statewide organizations in 11 states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, New Jersey, South Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
In 2019, Nemours and national partners began offering targeted training and TA support to states receiving CDC’s State Physical Activity and Nutrition (SPAN) funding. Since then, Nemours has provided resources to SPAN recipients in 14 states: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah. These activities and technical expertise have included:
- Child Care Aware of America’s GIS story map creation to support CACFP outreach
- Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) Early Childhood Train-the-Trainer
- Cooking Matters for Child Care Professionals and food insecurity TA from No Kid Hungry
- Institute for Public Health Innovation’s Healthy and Equitable Communities Training tailored for early childhood state partners
- HKHF TAP/Nemours Physical Activity Learning Sessions (PALS)
- Nemours Early Care and Education Learning Collaboratives
- North Carolina State’s Early Childhood Outdoor Learning Environments Course
- GO NAPSACC (Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care) access and technical assistance from the University of North Carolina
Learn more about Springboard Opportunities here