>>> <[log in to unmask]> 3/13/2008 4:07 PM >>>
Jacki--

Will you please forward this to your network of social workers?  We
really appreciate their wonderful response from social workers
throughout the state to the survey questions about childhood obesity
that you helped us distribute several weeks ago.  Their views helped us
shape the framework for the discussion guide and other materials we are
producing for community forums.

Now we would like to invite social workers and their colleagues to
participate in the public discussion phase of the project.  Will you
please send out the following information?

Thanks very much,
Betty Knighton

_______________

Dear Colleague--







We would like to invite you to become involved in a statewide
initiative designed to improve the nutrition and physical activity of
our state’s children. In the coming months, the West Virginia Office
of
Healthy Lifestyles, the West Virginia Center for Civic Life, and many
other partners will be working with
communities throughout the state to convene public discussions on how
West Virginians can address the rising rate of obesity among our
state’s children.  In the forums, participants will examine the
project's focus:











Weighing the Options: How Can We Encourage Healthy Weights Among West
Virginia's Youth?











The community forums in West Virginia will bring together citizens
from
all sectors of the community – parents, youth, educators, health
care
providers, business leaders, policymakers and community leaders – to
discuss steps to healthier lifestyles for children.  These community
meetings will provide an opportunity not only for participants to
learn
together and to consider directions for public policy, but also to
make
plans for how they can address the issue in their own families and
communities. 







We hope you will join us in this work.  We will be providing -- at no
charge -- moderator training for those who would like to lead a
community discussion as well as materials to use in the forums:
discussion guides, a brief video (conversation starter), and
questionnaires.  All of these materials are being developed with input
from citizens across the state who have shared their concerns with us.







Here's how you can become involved:











March 18  1:00-2:00 pm  Conference Call







If you or your organization
would like to help sponsor and organize a community forum--or if you
would just like more information about the initiative--please
participate in a conference call on March 18.  You can join us toll-free
at 1-800-233-3638, then enter the passcode 3126#    If you would like to
convene a forum but can't make the call, let us know and we'll make
arrangements to talk another time.

 



April 1  9:30 to 4:30  Moderator Training University of Charleston



If you would like to lead a community discussion, please join us for a
one-day training event in Charleston where you will learn, practice,
and hone your skills as neutral moderator of a community forum on
childhood obesity.  We think this training will be very useful as you
prepare to lead a discussion on this issue, as well as on other issues
that arise in your community in the future.    Lunch will be provided.

Let us know by return email or by phone if you would like to come.





To sign up for the March
18 conference call or April 1 training, please contact Betty Knighton
(West Virginia Center for Civic Life;  304-344-3430;
[log in to unmask]).







April through mid-June, 2008



Convene and/or moderate a discussion in your community, school, or
organization.  We hope there will be many, many forums in locations
throughout the state during this period, but we need your help to make
it happen, of course.  Forums can be fairly small and intimate.  You
don't have to gather a huge group to have a helpful, productive
discussion!







July, 2008



We will collect public input from the forums throughout the state and
create a report that you can use in your community for planning
further
work together.  We will also provide the report to policymakers,
educators, professional organizations, and the general public.







We hope that the conversations begun in these community settings will
lead to important work that will benefit all of our state's children. 
We especially hope that you will be a part of it.  If you know of
others who would like to be involved, please spread the word.

Betty Knighton
WV Center for Civic Life