I wanted to let you know about a project I will be involved with in 2008.

It is a project called Healthy Kids -Houston. It is a partnership grant program with the City of Houston and the Texas Children’s Hospital to fight the youth obesity problem in Houston. We received a 1.4 million dollar grant from the federal government to research and implement fitness and nutrition programs in various communities in Houston for 4 years.

The program will be researched based with a pre-test and post-test conducted on each child to evaluate their health and progress in this program. Overweight and obese children will be refered to the program by pediatricians. Children will learn the basics of nutrition and fitness, learn how to exercise, and participate in 1-hour workouts that are challenging as well as fun. There will also be an educational component for parents, since we know parents are the most influenial force in a young person’s life. Results of the study will be published and shared with other cities to implement in their communities. And, the program is totally free for children and parents.

I will be in charge of the water fitness component, which will be held in several aquatic centers in Houston during the summer months.

As this project progresses, I will be posting reports and my experiences. I am really looking for to this.